Plans for £3.8m Sheffield General Cemetery project approved
- Published
More than 87,000 people were buried at Sheffield's General Cemetery between 1836 and 1978
Plans to improve Sheffield General Cemetery as part of a proposed £3.8m project have been approved.
Sheffield City Council wants to carry out conservation and improvement work at the historic site in the Sharrow area of the city.
It said the work is key to the cemetery coming off English Heritage's 'Heritage at Risk' list.
The scheme is subject to a Heritage Lottery Fund 'Parks for People' grant application being successful.
The cemetery is home to 10 listed buildings and structures
Sheffield City Council is in the process of submitting an application for £3.8m of Heritage Lottery Funding
Plans for the six-hectare (15-acre) site include improving access, felling 54 of 360 trees as well as removing vegetation and carrying out conservation work on the cemetery's 10 listed buildings and structures, which include catacombs and a nonconformist chapel.
The council received a £400,000 grant in 2016 to begin the work.
George Bassett, founder of Bassett's Sweets, is buried at the cemetery
More than 87,000 people were buried at Sheffield's General Cemetery between 1836 and 1978.
It opened in response to overcrowding in the city's churchyards which was exacerbated by a cholera epidemic in 1832.
Among those buried in the cemetery are George Bassett, the founder of Bassett's Sweets, William Dronfield, whose United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades was a forerunner of the Trades Union Conference, and steel manufacturer, Master Cutler and Lord Mayor of Sheffield Mark Firth.
The programme of works includes plans to remove some trees and vegetation
- Published14 January 2016
