General Chat

Libby - that's a horrid story but I guess you were only young at the time. I wonder how many were damaged by bombing in World War II - never really thought of it.

Joan - Thanks for your advice. When you say 'old' are you referring to before 1750 - when I believe room was made for new graves and stones were removed ?

Maggiewinchester - You ancestors are light compared to many today. I understand undertakers have had to install lifting jibs!

Some of my paternal ancestors repose peacefully under Birmingham Dental Hospital (graveyard of St Mary. Whittall Street.)
My great grandmother & 2 of her sons in Key Hill cemetery were moved to another plot to make room for the Birmingham to Wolverhampton tram line.
The move was arranged by the transport company in conjunction with B´ham City Council. As many relatives as could be traced were consulted, a new memorial erected with all the names on it & a memorial service was organised.
Have a feeling this isn´t common practise.
Marion

Yes - that's how I knew it formed part of the path.
My gran and great aunt had seen it in it's proper place in the 1960's and gran gave me quite a good description of it - it was also very big.
The first time I visited I realised the few memorials still standing were of Canons and other church hierarchy - not commoners, so I looked around the walls where some stones were, then noticed the path.
I could just make out the wording - but within a couple of years it had become illegible.
Fortunately Romsey has, within the past 10 years started up a Local History society and I have got a lot of information about him from them.
He was a Foreman builder, as were most of his family - in the 1841 census, 16 families related to him were in the building trade. He owned a pub (now a private house) which he renamed 'The Bricklayers', which survived the decimation of rebuilding in the 1970's that destroyed whole streets- to be replaced with plastic flats - and led to the removal of his headstone.
At the time of his death, he was (according to the papers) the heaviest man in England - and the report has details of his coffin - the width & depth - and the height, which was nearly 7 foot!
The report states the weight of his wife and 2 daughters - who were also considered heavy. My g x 5 grandmother was all of 14 stone!!

Sad now but funny at the time, In the late 1960's out local RC graveyard was overturned,sunken and supposedly due to bomb damage (?).

The result was: dogs running around with bones in their mouths and lads playing football with skulls.

Don't think it would happen now, or hope it wont. Can not beleive I thought it was funny at the time, so disrespectful. I was brought up not to walk on anyone's grave because "it is their bed".

I always walk between the graves even now

Did you ever find the whereabouts of the stone?

There should be a plan of burials in the local registrar's office, so i presume, if the remains were moved - they would have been informed.

They removed my g x 6's headstone (and those of other 'commoners') from Romsey Abbey to create a path to the war memorial. What was even worse, when I asked about it - and if there was a map showing where he had been buried, some snotty guide said he couldn't have been buried there as he was a commoner - I pointed out that the 'commoner's' burial ground wasn't there when he died, I had a newspaper report stating that he was buried in the Abbey - and he was too heavy to take up the hill to the non-existant burial ground anyway!!! (he was only 32 stone - but that was heavy in 1842!!)

My ancestors were buried at the site of the Metro Centre in Gateshead. Would their remains have been moved? How can I find out where they went to?