Sheffield General Cemetery: 'Hidden gem' receives £430,000

The cemetery is believed to contain the graves of about 87,000 people.

A lottery grant of almost £430,000 has been awarded for restoration work at a "hidden gem" in Sheffield.

The Grade II*-listed General Cemetery could eventually receive up to £4m, Sheffield City Council said.

It contains 10 listed structures, including catacombs - underground tombs - and the money is to be used for repairs and to develop a wildlife park.

The cemetery opened in 1836 as one of the first commercial cemeteries in Britain but closed in 1978.

It houses 87,000 graves including those of Sheffield's industrial, political and religious leaders as well as those of cholera victims and paupers, over a six-hectare (15-acre) site.

George Bassett, founder of Bassett's Sweets, maker of liquorice allsorts, is buried there.

The cemetery also has monuments, a Non-Conformist and an Anglican chapel, and a gatehouse lodge.

Part of the catacombs suffered a partial collapse following a landslip after bad weather several years ago.

Leopold Lichtenthal from St Petersburg died falling from a horse in Sheffield.

David Cooper, the head of Parks and Countryside at the council, said: "This is a very complex cemetery on different levels and the council has done what it can".

He said the grant would be used to "understand the site and prepare a programme of works" and there would be a consultation on future plans for the cemetery.

The funding is to the cover next two years of work and the council hopes to apply for a larger grant in 2018.

Councillor Sioned-Mair Richards, said: "The General Cemetery is one of Sheffield's hidden gems and now we can really put it on the map."

The cemetery, bordered by Cemetery Road, Montague Street, Stalker Walk and the Porter Brook, is open to the public.