Jonathan Shute

[swinsor]

Hi,

I am trying to find where he is buried.  In the 1861 Census he was living with his daughter and son-in-law Ellen and Charles Corey on Pool Road, Oswestry.  His death is registered in the December Quarter of 1861 in Oswestry, when he was aged 77.  Has anyone any suggestions as to where he would most likely be buried in Oswestry at this date?

Thanks for your help.

Stephen

[david64]

At some point in the 1800s (I can't remember when) most of the parish church graves were dug up and there headstones (or some of them?) were used to build a wall. I believe transcriptions were made of these and have been published by the Shrop. Fam. Hist. Soc. There are only maybe about 50 graves that have been left to this day. Since then, burials were made at the Oswestry Town Council Cemetery. However, there are a number of non-conformist burials grounds. The ones that come to mind are the Welsh Zion Church and Arthur Street Independent. The latter I believe were also dug up, but again I believe these were transcribed.

So, if you know the family were Anglican, the gravestone (if any) will likely be at the Town Council Cemetery.

http://www.oswestry-tc.gov.uk/Core/Oswestry/Pages/Oswestry_Cemetery_1.aspx

If you phone the council, they should be able to give you the phone number for the "warden", who will charge £15 to do lookups for burials.

David

[swinsor]

Hi David,

Thanks for your help.  Jonathan died in the December Quarter of 1861, which I see from your link was a year before the opening of the Town Cemetery in December 1862.  As far as I am aware, the family were Anglicans.  Do you know which Anglican Churches in Oswestry had graveyards in 1861?

Regards,

Stephen

[david64]

There are two parish churches in Oswestry. Jonathan Shute lived near St. Oswald's Church, which is the one, which had its graveyard dug up.

The burial registers for Oswestry are available at Shropshire Archives and Oswestry Library. Oswestry also have the memorial transcriptions booklet for St. Oswald.

You can also buy the booklet for a few pounds:

http://www.sfhs.org.uk/Documents/SFHS_Publications.pdf

[swinsor]

Thanks David, that is very helpful.  A visit to Oswestry looks like a job for after Christmas.  It's good to know that there might be monumental inscriptions recorded as this was not always the case when gravestones were removed in earlier centuries.

Kind regards,

Stephen