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Common Graves at Witton

  • Thread starter Thread starter Aston34
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Aston34

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Hi,

I've now heard back from the City Council and found out that my gt gp were both buried in common graves.

I have the Sections 155/038093 (1928 death) & 91/11238 (1929 death) - interestingly i saved a plan of the cemetery which i found on this forum with all the numbers in sections, so i have found an approximate location where they are both situated.
With them been common graves i expected to see just open grass but it seems that both areas are completely covered in memorial stones.

(By the way the satellite image on google is fantastic, and i can honestly say ive never panned over such a HUGE cemetery!! )

What id like to know is if anyone has a great knowledge/or are visitors of this cemetery and do they know if these particular areas have a memorial stone for the common graves. i doubt very much there will be no names anyway i just thought it was worth asking the question, im assuming people have more than likely been buried on top of the earlier graves now.

If anyone has any information they could give me id really appreciate it.

Many thanks !

Aston34 :)
 
Hi
Witton Cemetry is one of the biggest cemetries in the midlands, it has a web site that is worth a quick look if you just put a search in for Witton Cemetry. I must take alook at it on the google map, never thought of that.
I also have relatives in common graves and need to find out more, as its near to me i will try and get up there on half term week.
What is it you want and i will try and get the info plus photos.
Adele
 
Hello Aston 34. Tons of earth were bought in to raise the ground for new burials. I don't know exactly when this happened. I am not sure if this is the case where you are looking. It would need a visit to be sure I think. Some common graves have memorials with names but these had to be paid for as extra. Again I am unsure if this applied to the area you are looking at.:)
 
Hi Wendy
Thanks for that, i did know that the burials had extra burials on top i read about it recently. Cant remember when it was , after 1920 i think.
My great grand father went into a paupers grave i believe, im trying to find his death but the register office said the certificate i wanted wasnt him, i think it was him but it means paying for a certificate to see.
His wife was buried in a different grave along with my grandparents. Then we have a total stranger put in on other relatives, it caused an argument back in 1948.
Adele
 
There has been a thread over on Roots Chat pertaining to Witton Cemetery. One of the posts mentioned that they were told by the ladies in the office there that the fresh dirt was brought in during the 1940s's. There was something like 9 feet of new earth spread over many areas that contained pauper's graves. Then the new plots, which were placed almost exactly over the old ones, were sold off to people who could afford to buy them, and in most cases carried the same plot number. (What a nightmare for family researchers.)

Ann
 
Yes I had a shock once when searching for a grave and found a different name. I went back to the office where this was explained.:( Just to clarify there are no pauper graves at Witton only public graves. These had to be paid for but were considerably less than the cost of a private grave.:)
 
thanks for the replys all, i will come back online in my lunch hour and reply (just popped on now in work time for a quick peek :D )
 
My gt grandmother is buried in one of these "buried" common graves. Loads of graves from the 80's and 90's placed on top. At last look, her grave is the only one not to have another grave over the top. With the price of graves even today, its no small wonder why there were so many common graves dug.
 
Wendy said:
Yes I had a shock once when searching for a grave and found a different name. I went back to the office where this was explained.:( Just to clarify there are no pauper graves at Witton only public graves. These had to be paid for but were considerably less than the cost of a private grave.:)
Click to expand...

Wendy

Thanks for that explanation re common graves. My grandfather is buried in a public grave at Witton and I had assumed that it was a pauper's grave:rolleyes:
At least now I can hopefully assume that the family did get some money together to bury him.

Suzanne
 
This is the information sent to me by Witton, it is regarding my Gt Aunt who died aged only 8 months, can anyone tell me was the section she was buried in one of the ones recovered??

Violet Martin 11/08/1915
Is buried on Section 177 Grave Number 46463B. This is a Common or Public grave which was never purchased by the family
and as such will have no memorial or distinguishing marker.

Can i just add, Witton will do searches for people .. the initial query is free, but any after that will cost £19 per half hour of searching :(
 
I've already read quite abit about Witton Cemetery and just wondered if anyone is a frequent visitor there who would know the particular sections that i mentioned?

I always think its nice to have a final resting place when youve been tracing your family members for so long, you know the final step of the journey is seeing the actual headstone commemorating that person. Deep down i knew that i would end up at a common grave but i suppose im just hoping theres a memorial stone with all the people in the common graves in. The fact ive seen both areas on google maps covered in stones leads me to think they are way underneath lots of other people.

Its quite sad really, you think when someone is buried that is their 'little plot' for ever and wont be recycled for others.

If someone does know the areas and could post a photo it would be lovely to see, but otherwise if i contacted the actual cemetery do you think they would be able to give me information on the sections? i dont suppose you know of charges do you?

Thanks ever so much for your replys, i really appreciate them :-)
 
Aston34, now i know where my family is buried i will be making a visit to try to find thier graves, i am hoping it will be this weekend at some point, i will certainly try to look up the plot you mentioned for you if i can find it lol
 
thats really kind of you claire, but needle haystack come to mind, sez me sat laughing at your smilie which about sums it up ha ha ha.

Ive just emailed witton cemetery asking me if theres any information they can give me on those 2 particular sections 1) if there are common grave memorial stones 2) lots of reburials on top, not so sure if they will get back to me but i hope they do.

have you seen the map which is floating around on this forum somewhere with all the section numbers, thats what i used to locate my 2 sections.

anyway best of luck with your familys graves i hope you manage to find them

:D
 
Best bet is to know the date of death (having death certificate is best) and then to check the Burial records at the Central Library (sorted by surname, alphabetically for each year - so can take time). Once you have a death date and a burial date, the search at Witton should be a formality.
 
Aston, i am thinking as i am looking in sections 117 and 177 (they sent me a map but it's blurred lol still i know it's by the Ridgeway, how hard can it be!!) that yours will be down from there, I will check the map at the cemetary when i go for your plot, I'll just take photo's of every grave in those areas, if we can't use them someone else on here might be able to :) I doubt any of them are marked, but you never know :) I spent 2 weeks before now walking a cemetary finding a grave, wish me luck and pack me a flask of tea lol
 
i will be packing you a flask of lager never mind tea you may need it. oops im promoting alcohol i should :010::) to be honest i should be on the yorkshire forums checking out requests as id happily go round searching for people - i love cemeterys & walking around them, i just love the whole history of the places. sounds like you know what your doing anyway! hope your camera battery doesnt drain to quickly ;)
 
Well i'm not one to give up easily, and it didn't help my cousin had the totally wrong area, ended up i went harrassing poor grave visitors and finally found the right area and my Aunty's Grave lol I spend hours at the cemetary visiting my Grandparents and Great Grandparents, it's just so peaceful, i'm not religious, but i've always had a morbid curiosity with Churches and Graveyards even as a child we spent hours in them amusing ourselves, we'd pick bluebells from the local woods and put them on the graves, I didn't like the thought of people being forgotten, we are going to the Key Hill Visit Saturday, i can't wait, none of my family are there that i know of, I spent 2 hours searching the fiches at B'ham Library for any surnames in my tree so i could hunt them all down, even in death there is no peace from me lol lol
 
your funny. yeah i have the same curiousities too, you must be as weird as me lol.

thats really we used to do the same when we were younger a group of us kids played in the local cemetery talking about all the individual stones and what their stories could be, picking dafs and stuff to go on them!

sorry quick message as in middle of work
 
well everyone, i got a reply from the council.

It seems Frederick Green was buried in 97 NOT 91 so there was an amendment, and i was looking in wrong section.

Secondly they confirmed that in both "sections 97 & 155 the ground was in fact built up during the late 40 s early 50s and subsequently used for private graves"
(as quoted from letter in speechmarks)

So for anyone out there searching the same sections i hope this is of help to you also.

I find it so sad that they are probably 15 ft down and people buried on top of them who have their own individual stones. :-(
 
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