Sheffield General Cemetery: £3 million revamp complete

Sheffield General Cemetery, with its Egyptian style buildings, opened in 1836

A £3 million revamp of one of the UK's earliest commercial cemeteries is complete, a council has said.

Opened in 1836, Sheffield General Cemetery features as a listed landscape on the English Heritage National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Lottery funding enabled Sheffield City Council to carry out "extensive structural repairs" to stone vaults known as catacombs.

Repairs were also made to monuments as well as its original retaining walls.

How the catacombs looked prior to the restoration

The four-year project ensures the 15-acre (six-hectare) site can continue to be "treasured" by future generations, the council said.

Councillor Richard Williams, chair of the authority's communities, parks and leisure policy committee, said the work builds on the earlier restoration achievements of Sheffield General Cemetery Trust.

He said: "The hard work of the projects team, the volunteers and the contractors has really paid off. The General Cemetery is such a well-loved space. It is a delight to welcome people back to enjoy it and see the results for themselves."

More than 87,000 people were buried at the site between 1836 and 1978, when it closed.

Overcrowding

The cemetery opened in response to overcrowding and poor conditions in churchyards, the council said, and was conceived at a time when the city was "at the cutting-edge of cultural reform and technical innovation".

Sheffield City Council has had responsibility for the General Cemetery since 1979.