British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

This week we look at the last words that remember our ancestors by examining epitaphs in burial grounds.  The grave of In Loving Memory of Alice Freestone in Alby (St Ethelbert) Churchyard, Norfolk. Her epitaph describes her as, "A Dear Wife and Mother" and "Worthy of Remembrance". According to the Oxford Dictionary , epitaphs are, "words that are written or said about a dead person, especially words on a gravestone." The Deceased Online website includes photographs of graves and memorials, as well as digital scans of cremation and burial registers.  Photographs, such as those from our Norfolk Collection , can give you an insight into the character of the deceased. They also provide us with essential genealogical information, such as the names of relatives. Among our records are some fascinating memorials and epitaphs. The Londonist website wrote an interesting post on  Brompton Cemetery , whose burial registers you can search in our database . The hea...

As lockdown eases, more cemeteries across the UK are reopening to visitors Cemeteries have begun to reopen across the country as Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed. Although some cemeteries have been open in past weeks to grave owners, it has not been possible for general visitors or family historians to spend time in these calm spaces. Many of the cemeteries whose registers feature in the Deceased Online database are once again open to general visitors. These include Highgate Cemetery , where a notice of re-opening was posted on the gate of the East Cemetery last week (see above image). Others that are now open include  Islington and St Pancras Cemetery in East Finchley, and  West Norwood Cemetery in the London borough of Lambeth.  Cemeteries that remain closed include Lister Lane Cemetery in Halifax, Yorkshire. All Bolton Council Cemeteries are now open to the public between 9am and 8pm every day. Visitors are reminded to observe social distancing guidelines at all t...

Deceased Online  completes the  Cheshire East Orbitas  collection with the addition of Alderley Edge, Knutsford, and Wilmslow Cemeteries.   Above: the stone Druid's circle at Alderley Edge Alderley Edge, Knutsford, and Wilmslow in Cheshire are all areas of rich and diverse history, with many local legends, listed buildings, and traditions. Alderley Edge  has been occupied since the Mesolithic period. Flint implements have been found in the area, and nearby there is evidence of Bronze Age copper mining. In 1995 the Derbyshire Caving Club found a collection of Roman coins dating from AD 317 to AD 336. The name Alderley appeared in 1086 as 'Aldredelie'. "The Edge" is a wide red sandstone escarpment situated above the village and is owned and maintained by the National Trust. Above: Mines at Alderley Edge Knutsford  is well known for its  Royal May Day festival , an event in which hundreds of people parade through the streets and the May Q...

Exciting news this week from Deceased Online as almost 50,000 records from the Oxford cemeteries, Botley, Rose Hill and Wolvercote, are uploaded to the database  The calm acres of Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford Deceased Online is delighted to announce that almost 50,000 records from Botley, Rose Hill, and Wolvercote cemeteries in Oxford , from 1894 to 2016, are now available to search on   www.deceasedonline.com . Records for the fourth Oxford City Council cemetery,  Headington Cemetery, have been digitised and will be released at a future date. Botley Cemetery is situated in   North Hinksey Lane,  Botley,  Oxford OX2 0LX. The city of Oxford is celebrated across the world for its universities, academic innovation, and medieval architecture. On television, it is the home of fictional detectives Morse , Lewis, and Hathaway. Its situation in the beautiful county of Oxfordshire, on the banks of the Thames, and close to magnificent Blenheim ...

Today's taphophiles and family historians often enjoy the calm and greenery of urban cemeteries. But would today's cemetery users want to return to a Victorian policy that sought to convert burial grounds into public parks? The Hardy Tree in the grounds of St Pancras Old Church In the 1860s, the graves of the ancient pa rish churchyard of St Pancras were cleared. Among those who  helped clear and relocate burials from the old St Pancras Church graveyard to the new St Pancras and Islington Cemetery , was a y oung Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) .  A famous tree still stands in the old graveyard which bears his name.  Some of the church lands was taken by the Midland Railway. During this period, around 8,000 bodies were exhumed from their burial plots and some were relocated to the new cemetery in Finchley. Some headstones, like that of the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (1759-1797) were left standing and can still be seen in the churchyard today. ...

This week, I am taking a closer look at the recently uploaded  photography collection of  Norfolk cemeteries   taken by Norfolk resident, Louise Cocker.  I mage taken from page 87 of 'Sun Pictures of the Norfolk Broads. By Payne Jennings. With letterpess description by E. R. Suffling. (Third edition.)' Deceased Online 's latest addition to the database has proved popular with family historians over the past couple of weeks. Louise Crocker's amazing collection of hundreds of cemetery photographs from across Norfolk is an essential resource for anyone with ancestors from these parishes. As the image above demonstrates, Norfolk is a beautiful English county, famed for its extraordinary Broads, as well as its flat landscape, Norman churches, and historic stately homes. Bordering Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, this East Anglian county was one of the most highly populated and prosperous parts of England in the Middle Ages. Since the 17th century, ...