Hi
The graveyard closed for business in 1858. It was already dangerously overcrowded with many burials occurring over old ones. The original church was medieval. The real criminals were the Victorians who demolished the building. It was immediately replaced by an unremarkable new church which lasted until the 1970s. By then, the church tower was considered unsafe and low attendance meant that it was closed, de-consecrated and demolished in the 1970s.
Clearance of graveyards/ flattening of gravestones was a more recent and widespread occurrence. The choice being that of the church vicars and the rationale being based on a mixture of aesthetics (green an open ground etc.), the perceived danger of derelict, falling gravestones, and the cost of rectifying the problem. Gravestones were commonly flattened and soil / turf used to cover the site. Municipal graveyards have fared far better due to more stable ground ( 1 x burial per plot) and ongoing regime of professional maintenance.
