re Burial Ground Clearance.....

[ASGROOMBRIDGE]

Help, they have moved my great great grandmother!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone know what it means when they say a graveyard has been cleared. Did they dig everyone up and put them someplace else???????

This is the reply I got when I tried to fing out about the Gorbles Burial Ground.

I must advise that Gorbals Burial Ground was cleared of burials in the 1960’s and laid out as a rose garden at the time of the construction of the nearby Queen Elizabeth high rise flats.

regards,
Audrey

[LesleyB]

Hi Audrey
I'm not sure where your great great grandmother is now, poor lady, but I found this;

Yesterday, new trees began to grow in the Gorbals for the first time since the days of the razor gangs.

In the latest incarnation of the area, apple, quince and damson saplings swayed in the wind in a planned orchard of 75 trees and 300 fruit bushes.

It is a replanting of the past, to reinstate a medieval orchard that was lost more than 200 years ago.

Within a few years, the trees will prosper and the fruit bushes, including currants of the red, white and black variety, as well as raspberry and gooseberry, will provide their bounty.

The back-to-the-future project was the brainchild of the artist Amanda Currie, and it is based on a former ancient burial ground from which the remains were removed 60 years ago.

at http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=257802004
So it does look as though the remains may have been moved.

and these:
http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSE00713
http://www.gorbalslive.org.uk/data/abou ... loc_15.htm

- according to the Scran site, http://www.scran.ac.uk/ the site "was demolished and replaced by a flower garden, 1951"

Hope this is of some help
Best wishes
Lesley

[ASGROOMBRIDGE]

Thanks Lesley,

Thought it a bit barbaric digging bodies up and moving them, poor souls, I am going to be cremated, thats made my mind up.

Lovely news about the tree's though.

thanks again,
Audrey

[JimM]

Hi Audrey
Just thought I'd mention that the Southern Necropolis is in the Gorbals..still going strong
I think this was also known as "Gorbals cemetery"

http://www.southernnecropolis.com/

Jim

[LesleyB]

Hi Jim
I think the Southern Necropolis came a little later than the Gorbals cemetery - it was supposed to be the "new improved" version! But I think you are quite right in that it seems to be referred to as The Gorbals Cemetery sometimes, because there is talk on this site about the gatehouse at "Gorbals Cemetery" which is clearly the Southern Necropolis. http://www.greekthomson.com/Media%20coverage%202001.htm

Plan is gateway to a rescue bid
...The gatehouse at the entrance to the Gorbals cemetery has been derelict for 20 years and (£600,000 is needed to restore it to its former glory.
It was the second necropolis built in Glasgow and the final resting place of many famous people including architect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson and millionaire grocer and yachtsman Sir Thomas Lipton.

Good picture of the gatehouse on the link you provided!
More here:
http://www.gorbalslive.org.uk/data/abou ... loc_11.htm

http://www.headstones.fsnet.co.uk/gorbals.htm

Some of my McNicols are in the Southern Necropolis, so have spent a little time there.

Best wishes
Lesley

[ASGROOMBRIDGE]

Thank you everyone,

Still leaves the question would they have dug everyone up (for want of a better phrase) and then interned them in a mass grave?

regards,
Audrey

[maceill]

I have the same problem with an ancestor of mine,she was buried next to St Marys Calton, but the remains were removed to make room for new flats and houses,were the poor mite is now is anybodys guess
maceill

[ASGROOMBRIDGE]

One of these days I am going to try and find out what they do with the remains, I know it sounds morbid but I really am curious to know if they dig them up and then re inter them elsewhere.

Audrey

[apanderson]

In a churchyard not to far from where I live, it was decided to 'change the use' of the graveyard to a car park. Notices were published in several nationwide newspapers announcing their intentions at the same time allowing any descendants of the people buried there, a chance to make their own arrangements.

It seems no one ever voiced either any interest or complained . . . . . so, in went the JCB's, scraped the surface to a suitable level and when any bones popped up, a big hole was dug in one corner and the said bones were simply dumped in there!

I've spoken to a few of the folk whose gardens run side by side to this churchyard and most of them had, at one time or another, found various 'bits' appearing in their gardens. Apparently when ground is disturbed in this way, not only do items move toward the surface, but they move sideways too . . . . . not a pleasant thought.

Anyway, this was back in the late 1970's. The church closed down not long after that, was a retail showroom for a number of years and now is being turned into flats.

I wonder if this is the same story with more 'converted' churches??

Anne

[wini]

this seems to be a common practice.
A Church School in Tasmania moved the head stones from an old grave yard attached to the school and placed them elsewhere and built new Tennis Courts for the school on the site.

wini