St. Mary, Haggerston

[auntyjojo]

Is there anyone with an interest in St. Mary, Haggerston, Middlesex, who may be able to help.  Is there a Monumental Inscription for Anne (or Ann) Skyring, buried May 3, 1831, on a headstone around the perimeter of the playground where the church was? Or perhaps an Historical group transcribed the headstones before they were removed.  Any help appreciated.  I live in Australia and it's a bit far to go.  Thanks.
Auntyjojo

[t mo]

hi aunty
a follow up from tother post go to www.hackney.gov.uk/ep-saint-mary-s.htm this is the site for hackney council on the home page along the top is a means of contacting the council direct they should know what the score is regarding headstones also if you do a google search you,ll find that flickr have a site with a pic of the playground taken by  someone last year it doesn,t show all the playground but what you can see there,s no reminder of it,s past history but not to say somewhere else there,s something , [ unless the council are afraid of frightening the little hooligans sorry i mean little children  so no grave stones remain ]
regards
trevor

[auntyjojo]

Thanks t mo.  Have e-mailed Hackney Council.  Fingers crossed.
auntyjojo

[Valda]

Hi

The guide to London burials at the top of the Rootschat London and Middlesex boards strongly recommends checking the website London burial grounds because it gives background to London churchyards and usually modern photographs of the area today.

St Mary Haggerston

http://www.londonburials.co.uk/

'St. Mary's Churchyard, Haggerston.
Church bombed during WW2.
This ground is now a tidy recreation area in the middle of a housing estate.'

and by 1881

'1⅓ acre. This is maintained by the Shoreditch Burial Board as a public garden, open during the summer. It was laid out by the Earl and Countess of Meath in 1881.  (Holmes)'

and also recommended London Gardens online

http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.asp?ID=HAC045

Far less likely then that pre 1881 anyone transcribed the remaining headstones which appear to have been removed around then. Any that would have survived to 1881 or were placed there in the first place would be for families who could afford stone gravestones. Did this family leaves wills and were they more financially secure, because generally they were the sort of families that were more likely to be able to afford the luxury of stone gravestones?

Burials only began in the churchyard in 1829 so it wouldn't be a churchyard of historical importance when it closed for new burials (like other London churchyards on health grounds) circa 1856 (with a few individual family burials occuring later on special request). Nevertheless in those 27 years there were well over 10,000 burials in the churchyard. The London burial grounds website describes graphically what that meant in reality for many other churchyards,  simply overwhelmed by the number of burials taking place in relatively small churchyards surrounding London churches. Londoners were generally glad to see these churchyards closed as they were blamed for the spread of disease and welcomed them being laid out as gardens in the second half of the C19th.


Regards

Valda

[auntyjojo]

Hi Valda,
Thanks for your reply.  Very interesting and informative.
auntyjojo

[auntyjojo]

Hi t mo,
No luck with Hackney Council.  Looks like the end of the line.
Thanks for your in-put. 
auntyjojo

[LisaMary]

As per one of the posts before "most" people didn't have headstones and no individual actual places were noted at that time of burial. Rods were often used (pushed in the ground) to locate "free" space to bury people in space was so limited. If it says they were buried there and you have a date then they were.  Perhaps it would be worth looking in the local records library to see if they reinterred the remains elsewhere when they made it a park or if they are still there.  If they didn't reinter then you can be pretty sure your relative is there. They buried so fast and thick that pauper graves were only about a foot under the surface and apparently the stentch was atrocious. There are various documents generally that say about moving headstones to consecrated ground when parks were made, however, even if there was a stone, which is unlikely, not maintained it would probably be unreadbale now anyway. Regards Lisa

[auntyjojo]

Lisa,
Thank you very much for the latest information.
Regards,
Joan J.

[LisaMary]

Hi Joan,

Did you see this picture of after the bombing in WW2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarflondondunc/4665256589/
Best Wishes
Lisa