Westoe Cemetery South Shields

[MBR1965]

I am trying to trace ancestors burial records. I know when this cemetery opened and that it is still open but only to existing family plots. Does anybody know exactly when it closed to new burials ? Thanks

[Tickettyboo]

Short answer is that I don't know, sorry.

An option is to email the address on this page for the South Tyneside Bereavement Services Dept.

http://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/7679/Cemeteries-and-the-Crematorium-in-South-Tyneside

as they, hopefully, should be able to tell you

Boo

[MBR1965]

Thanks, I'm beginning to think I will have to do that. Astonishingly, it isn't mentioned anywhere online not even a Google search - simply says it is closed to new burials, no more details.

[Tickettyboo]

email is free and my Granda always told me that Shy Bairns get nowt :-)
I always find its worth asking.

good luck with it, and do let us know if you get a definitive answer. That means that in the future, if someone else wants to know a search will bring it up.

Boo

[MBR1965]

Had a phone call from a helpful lady called Lynne at the burial office in South Shields.

The last recorded sale of a burial plot in Westoe Cemetery was in 1953 although as said before, it is still open to burials in existing family plots.

When Harton Cemetery was opened in 1891, within a decade it had replaced Westoe as the place of choice for people to be buried in. I suppose it was a natural change as the population of the town began to expand and move out of the Tyne Dock & Laygate / Westoe area further afield to Harton, Horsely Hill, Cleadon  and other outlying areas which were previously sparsely populated and mainly farmland.