Sheffield General Cemetery: Revamp of 'heritage treasure' celebrated

The cemetery is home to 10 listed buildings and structures

A multi-million pound revamp of one of the UK's earliest commercial cemeteries is being celebrated with a special gathering at the site.

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

A four-year project to restore and safeguard it as a heritage treasure was completed in June.

People involved in the project will come together to celebrate the work.

In 2018, lottery funding of £3.8m was secured to enable Sheffield City Council to carry out "extensive structural repairs" to stone vaults known as catacombs.

Conservation work was carried out to catacombs

Repairs were also made to monuments as well as its original retaining walls, which are nearly 200 years old.

The project involved the council's parks and countryside service, which worked closely with Sheffield General Cemetery Trust - a group of volunteers set up by residents 35 years ago to help bring the cemetery back from dereliction.

Dave Hunt, chair of the trust, said: "Completion of the significant repair and conservation works to the Cemetery Heritage Park has been eagerly awaited by the 95 volunteers and staff of Sheffield General Cemetery Trust.

"We are delighted to see the historic and well-loved site secured for visitors for long into the future."

More than 87,000 people were buried at Sheffield's General Cemetery between 1836 and 1978

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

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.

Councillor Richard Williams, chair of communities, parks and leisure policy committee, said: "Sheffield General Cemetery is a unique heritage space of which our city is rightly proud.

"This project has been one more step in the General Cemetery's journey, I am sure there will be more to come."

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