History of Burials
CHURCHYARDS & GRAVEYARDS
In the 1800s, the burial of the dead was seen as a religious function and almost all burial grounds were provided by churches. Although the majority of churchyard grounds were controlled by the Church of England, there were also burial places exclusive to various non conformist groups being established in the eighteenth and nineteen centuries. Churchyard and graveyards become almost synonymous as church burials grounds had been taking place for several hundred years.
MUNICIPAL CEMETERIES
It was the growth of urban populations during the nineteenth century and the increasing knowledge of public health and hygiene that made it clear the current system of burial was wholly inadequate. Many churchyards were closed followed by the development of the larger municipal cemeteries often of the then urban fringes of the town or city. The implicit values of the Victorian age were adopted into the organisation and structure of the new cemeteries that began springing up.
Many of the great 19th century urban cemeteries were designed and laid out by the same established designers who created public parks, and were considered to belong to the wider park family. The nineteenth century legislation that provided for new burial grounds seemed to have envisaged that they would in due course become public open spaces for which provisions were made in the Open Spaces Acts 1887 and 1906. The notion of a public landscapes as well as functioning as burial sites and as places for visiting and promenading of a more dignified and morally uplifting kind went hand in hand.
The idea that each grave constituted an eternal resting place for the mortal remains of everyone only become the current in Victorian times and burials grants were made in perpetuity. The individuality and status obsessed Victorians contributed to a culture of class divide than a genuine response to the death of a loved one in the design and excessive expenditure of memorials.
THE ADVENT OF THE LAWN CEMETERY
The extravagance of Victorian memoriam was thought to be insincere and deemed increasingly archaic in the modern world adding to the decline in these landscapes, where shifts in design began to favour clean lines and brisk uniformity. The merits of a simpler, less grandiose and individual approach had been underlined by the deliberately classless design of war cemeteries that were dotted around the battlefields of Europe. These beautifully well kept cemeteries were firmly embedded in the British psyche after 1926 when the Imperial War Graves Commission decided to commemorate the dead that had given their lives for ‘King and Country’ in the Great War. Their work was widely admired as Victorian Cemeteries were designed to be ostentatious and were designed to be a class based even after death. These well kept cemeteries gave impetus to the lawn cemetery with adequate trees and shrubs adorning the grounds.
By the advent of the Second World War, an appreciation of the merits of lawn sections was widespread. Further effort was given to alterations of cemetery landscapes as the lawn cemetery had become the standard to which all managers aspired to after the war. In the early period, lawn cemetery areas were created through changes to existing cemetery landscapes where mounds were levelled and the removal of excessive grave furniture. Some local authorities tried even more extreme efforts to minimise any reminder of the physical presence of the dead from the landscape by introducing horizontal plaques, some of these cemeteries still exist today. The laying out of lawn extensions and new cemeteries set out on the lawn principle became commonplace only after the Second World War.
THE POPULARITY OF CREMATIONS
Cremations were once only enjoyed by the social elite in Britain but now is commonly seen as a viable way to lay to rest the departed. It has been argued that the rise in the choice of cremation may not be wholly explained by choice, but may be partly explained by the absence of locally accessible burial space and the older Victorian cemeteries falling into a state of disrepair. These factors most likely had an impact into the way people chose to be disposed of after they have passed away towards that of cremation as people can have their ashes strewn in a location that has deep seated memories for them and their loved ones. The UK has one of the highest cremation rates in the world accounting for 72 percent of all disposals. The increase in the popularity of cremations induced local authorities to review cemetery maintenance policies and new ideals were pursued.
People choose cremation for a variety of reasons including efficiency, hygiene, cost, and not wanting to leave behind the 'burden' of a grave to maintain. Where people die without making their preference for burial or cremation clear, surviving family members generally choose cremation. In the case of the deaths of young children, burial is generally chosen, and the creation of separate baby and children's areas in cemeteries is one innovation of the past 50 years.
The scattering of cremated remains was a common practise in memorial gardens or many choosing to take cremated remains away for private disposal in a place of their choosing. In recent years, there has been a growing trend in the burial of cremated remains in ceremonial containers in burial plots with a small memorial in established cemeteries. This means that crematorium gardens are becoming once again like burial grounds, with all the land and landscaping requirements of that of the traditional cemetery.
PRIVATE CEMETERIES
Post war Britain saw a rise in the privately run cemetery as more burial ground became available. By the eighties, the majority of these privately run cemeteries were taken over by the local authorities as they fell into neglect because their income from the sale of Rights of Burial declined and costs of maintenance rose until the financial position became unfeasible. These cemeteries were to be reinvented as park areas, with evidence of their burial function as far as possible removed.
BURIALS ARE STILL POPULAR
Despite the inexorable rise in cremations, the grave continued to carry emotional significance for many bereaved people, perhaps more so as the lawn cemetery made the private grave, for the first time, affordable to all due to fewer maintenance costs to the local authority. Immigration from developing countries has seen an increase in burials where tradition still dictates the way a person is to be interred and the requirement of a memorial to marl the final resting place of the deceased.
CEMETERIES TODAY
When people think of cemeteries, a repellent dreary place most likely comes to mind. These thoughts are not far from reality as the growing dissatisfaction with maintenance standards in existing Victorian cemeteries has been growing. Many historic cemeteries today, now full, have become neglected, with little to attract anyone apart from those visiting specific burial plots. These abandoned and disused graveyards started to attract a different sort of visitor with these places being a haven for crime, drug misuse and illicit sexual activity. The lack of care and maintenance can have a particularly depressing or debilitating effect on surrounding communities and cemeteries in any area is seen as a blot on their locality.
In the 1800s, the burial of the dead was seen as a religious function and almost all burial grounds were provided by churches. Although the majority of churchyard grounds were controlled by the Church of England, there were also burial places exclusive to various non conformist groups being established in the eighteenth and nineteen centuries. Churchyard and graveyards become almost synonymous as church burials grounds had been taking place for several hundred years.
MUNICIPAL CEMETERIES
It was the growth of urban populations during the nineteenth century and the increasing knowledge of public health and hygiene that made it clear the current system of burial was wholly inadequate. Many churchyards were closed followed by the development of the larger municipal cemeteries often of the then urban fringes of the town or city. The implicit values of the Victorian age were adopted into the organisation and structure of the new cemeteries that began springing up.
Many of the great 19th century urban cemeteries were designed and laid out by the same established designers who created public parks, and were considered to belong to the wider park family. The nineteenth century legislation that provided for new burial grounds seemed to have envisaged that they would in due course become public open spaces for which provisions were made in the Open Spaces Acts 1887 and 1906. The notion of a public landscapes as well as functioning as burial sites and as places for visiting and promenading of a more dignified and morally uplifting kind went hand in hand.
The idea that each grave constituted an eternal resting place for the mortal remains of everyone only become the current in Victorian times and burials grants were made in perpetuity. The individuality and status obsessed Victorians contributed to a culture of class divide than a genuine response to the death of a loved one in the design and excessive expenditure of memorials.
THE ADVENT OF THE LAWN CEMETERY
The extravagance of Victorian memoriam was thought to be insincere and deemed increasingly archaic in the modern world adding to the decline in these landscapes, where shifts in design began to favour clean lines and brisk uniformity. The merits of a simpler, less grandiose and individual approach had been underlined by the deliberately classless design of war cemeteries that were dotted around the battlefields of Europe. These beautifully well kept cemeteries were firmly embedded in the British psyche after 1926 when the Imperial War Graves Commission decided to commemorate the dead that had given their lives for ‘King and Country’ in the Great War. Their work was widely admired as Victorian Cemeteries were designed to be ostentatious and were designed to be a class based even after death. These well kept cemeteries gave impetus to the lawn cemetery with adequate trees and shrubs adorning the grounds.
By the advent of the Second World War, an appreciation of the merits of lawn sections was widespread. Further effort was given to alterations of cemetery landscapes as the lawn cemetery had become the standard to which all managers aspired to after the war. In the early period, lawn cemetery areas were created through changes to existing cemetery landscapes where mounds were levelled and the removal of excessive grave furniture. Some local authorities tried even more extreme efforts to minimise any reminder of the physical presence of the dead from the landscape by introducing horizontal plaques, some of these cemeteries still exist today. The laying out of lawn extensions and new cemeteries set out on the lawn principle became commonplace only after the Second World War.
THE POPULARITY OF CREMATIONS
Cremations were once only enjoyed by the social elite in Britain but now is commonly seen as a viable way to lay to rest the departed. It has been argued that the rise in the choice of cremation may not be wholly explained by choice, but may be partly explained by the absence of locally accessible burial space and the older Victorian cemeteries falling into a state of disrepair. These factors most likely had an impact into the way people chose to be disposed of after they have passed away towards that of cremation as people can have their ashes strewn in a location that has deep seated memories for them and their loved ones. The UK has one of the highest cremation rates in the world accounting for 72 percent of all disposals. The increase in the popularity of cremations induced local authorities to review cemetery maintenance policies and new ideals were pursued.
People choose cremation for a variety of reasons including efficiency, hygiene, cost, and not wanting to leave behind the 'burden' of a grave to maintain. Where people die without making their preference for burial or cremation clear, surviving family members generally choose cremation. In the case of the deaths of young children, burial is generally chosen, and the creation of separate baby and children's areas in cemeteries is one innovation of the past 50 years.
The scattering of cremated remains was a common practise in memorial gardens or many choosing to take cremated remains away for private disposal in a place of their choosing. In recent years, there has been a growing trend in the burial of cremated remains in ceremonial containers in burial plots with a small memorial in established cemeteries. This means that crematorium gardens are becoming once again like burial grounds, with all the land and landscaping requirements of that of the traditional cemetery.
PRIVATE CEMETERIES
Post war Britain saw a rise in the privately run cemetery as more burial ground became available. By the eighties, the majority of these privately run cemeteries were taken over by the local authorities as they fell into neglect because their income from the sale of Rights of Burial declined and costs of maintenance rose until the financial position became unfeasible. These cemeteries were to be reinvented as park areas, with evidence of their burial function as far as possible removed.
BURIALS ARE STILL POPULAR
Despite the inexorable rise in cremations, the grave continued to carry emotional significance for many bereaved people, perhaps more so as the lawn cemetery made the private grave, for the first time, affordable to all due to fewer maintenance costs to the local authority. Immigration from developing countries has seen an increase in burials where tradition still dictates the way a person is to be interred and the requirement of a memorial to marl the final resting place of the deceased.
CEMETERIES TODAY
When people think of cemeteries, a repellent dreary place most likely comes to mind. These thoughts are not far from reality as the growing dissatisfaction with maintenance standards in existing Victorian cemeteries has been growing. Many historic cemeteries today, now full, have become neglected, with little to attract anyone apart from those visiting specific burial plots. These abandoned and disused graveyards started to attract a different sort of visitor with these places being a haven for crime, drug misuse and illicit sexual activity. The lack of care and maintenance can have a particularly depressing or debilitating effect on surrounding communities and cemeteries in any area is seen as a blot on their locality.