On 18 Mar 2010 at 10:19, Graham Hadfield wrote: > I saw the following post on the English Civil War Society forum and > thought it might be of interest to some on this group. > > **************** > In Morley near Leeds there is a church with undisturbed English Civil > War graves in an excellent state of preservation. Recently planning > permission to alter use of St Mary's in the Wood was advertised. Just > in case you missed this, here's the low down. > > The developer who now owns the site is currently seeking planning > permission for: alterations and addition of new mezzanine floors to > vacant church, to form restaurant and 9 hotels suites and erect 3 > storey detached block of 30 hotel rooms, with removal/relocation of > gravestones, new car parking and landscaping. > > There are no plans to re-site the stones, or to study the archaeology > of the site. > > You can view this here, and make objections online at > http://planningapplications.leeds.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplicatio > n/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=KX7XY6JB0FZ00 > > Please click through and add comments or object, it's your right to > have a say on this matter. Detailed planning drawings are now > available on this site too showing plans to remove gravestones and > trees for car parking. When we talk about Morley being mentioned in > the Domesday book it's this site in particular that was listed. This > is our history, the people who made the town what it is. > > Please join our group and have your say. > http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36206665545&ref=ts > ********************** > As soon as I saw this post I made enquiries, since I have a great-great-uncle, John Stockdill and his wife, Hannah (formerly Senior), buried in this graveyard, plus other relatives by marriage called Middlebrook, several of whom married into the Stockdill family. Hannah and John died in 1865 and 1868 respectively. Actually, setting aside any feelings or comments I might have about the graves of my relatives being interfered with, it was a very useful family history research exercise, since I was able to discover that my gt-gt-uncle and aunt do have a gravestone there; moreover there appear to be three children who died young buried with them whom I had not previously known about. I had quite a lengthy conversation on the phone with a senior partner in the firm of architects who have drawn up the plans and he directed me to the website of Leeds City planning department and talked me through all the documents they have had to submit. They include a spreadsheet of the entire graveyard and photos of the gravestones themselves, which will prove very useful to those on this list who may have ancestors and/relatives buried there. If anyone wants to discover whether they have ancestors or relatives buried at St Mary's in the Wood, Morley, then here is how to do it..... 1) Go to http://planningapplications.leeds.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_se archform.aspx 2) On the on-screen form that appears type into the very first field the application reference no. 10/00443/FU and click on "Search" at the bottom. 3) In the next screen click on "Click to View". 4) In the next screen click on the link "Associated Documents" and then on "View Associated Documents". 5) You will get a long list of all the documents that have been submitted for this application. If you want to cut out the previous screens, then the direct URL is: http://plandocs.leeds.gov.uk/WAM/showCaseFile.do?appName=planning&appNumbe r=10/00443/FU 6) Finally, scroll down the list of "Document Types" to "Background Papers". There you will find two documents called "Photos of gravestones" and "Spreadsheet of gravestones". The latter lists every grave by number and its occupants and gives you the reference to the jpeg photo in the other file. Unfortunately, the thumbnails are not very large and the inscriptions are not readable. If you go further down that same screen you will also find a lengthy list of objections to the scheme and the reasons. If you study the spreadsheet list of the gravestones you will find there are almost 500 graves in the churchyard, most with more than one person in them, so there must be well over 2,000 people buried there, possibly more since some graves have half-a- dozen in them, though I didn't bother to calculate the actual numbers. Some of the names are highlighted on an orangy-browny background and the architect told me these are the ones scheduled to be built over to form the car park and these are the gravestones that will have to be moved, though he added that some of these may have to be re-scheduled. My John and Hannah Stockdill are among them!!! He also said that in due course there will be another legal process to inform descendants of the plans. I told him that my gt-gt-uncle and aunt had hundreds of descendants alive today in this country and in America, Canada and Australia and I would probably be informing them of the plans. I happen to know that some of them are quite deeply religious and may well be offended. He assured me the whole thing would be done with the greatest sensitivity. We shall see! Personally, I can see both sides of this issue. The architect told me that since the church closed two years ago it had stood empty and been subject to severe vandalism. He asked "Where were all the protestors and objectors who wanted to save it at the time it closed?" A fair point, perhaps. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE