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Churchyard and cemetery in an English industrial city: Sheffield, 1740–1900

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2014

JULIE RUGG ,
FIONA STIRLING  and
ANDY CLAYDEN
JULIE RUGG
Affiliation:
Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, Arts Tower, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
FIONA STIRLING
Affiliation:
Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, Arts Tower, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
ANDY CLAYDEN
Affiliation:
Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, Arts Tower, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
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Abstract:

Accounts of nineteenth-century burial practice in England borrow heavily from French historiography, which describes the way that scientific agendas drove a shift from traditional churchyard use to secular, municipal cemetery management. A challenge to this meta-narrative uses the example of Sheffield. In this highly industrialized city, the nineteenth century did not see a dichotomized translation from churchyard to cemetery; the Church Building Act (1818) was more effective in meeting burial demand than the 1836 General Cemetery; the formal closure of churchyards did not always lead to a cessation of burial; and by the century's end, church burial provision remained substantial.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , November 2014 , pp. 627 - 646
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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