The National Archives, Removal of graves and tombstones

The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Removal of graves and tombstones from disused and closed burial grounds and cemeteries.

The National Archives (TNA) is a government department and an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. It incorporates the Office of Public Sector Information and HM Stationery and also performs the Historical Manuscripts Commission's functions in relation to private records.

As the government's national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, it holds over 1,000 years of the nation's records for everyone to discover and use.

Deceased Online has undertaken various scanning and digitisation projects within TNA's offices at Kew in Southwest London and is adding them, over a period of time, to the website enabling far easier access for researchers.

This collection from TNA (reference RG37) comprises a total of approximately 175,000 records from over 200 cemeteries across many parts of England and Wales. The records are digital scans of original transcriptions from local authorities and the Church Commissioners relating to burial ground removals. The list records each site by location and title, followed by the years covered by inscription on the tombs and gravestones. The detail of each record varies in content and range.

The burials recorded in the transcriptions date back to 17th Century although most are from the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

(The transcriptions were recorded by the different authorities over the period 1923-2007)

On their website, The National Archives describes the administration and biographical background to this collection of records in the following way:

The origin of official custody of records of burial ground removals dates back to 1911 and arose initially out of a recommendation made by the Attorney General that such records be made and deposited with the local registrar of births and deaths. The Home Secretary agreed to the suggestion made by the Registrar General that they should be deposited instead with the miscellaneous records held by the General Register Office.

The provision was incorporated into various private bills under which the removal of graves was authorised, and subsequently in the Town and Country Planning (Churches, Places of Religious Worship and Burial Grounds) Regulations 1950 (SI 1950 No 792), the Disused Burial Grounds (Amendment) Act 1981 and schemes under the Pastoral Measures 1968, although it was omitted from the Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977 (SI 1977 No 204).All records indicated below are now available on the Deceased Online and are searchable using our 'Advance search' option; i.e., names, dates, regions, counties and, if known, individual cemeteries/burial grounds.

Please note: As the death date or burial date is not always included in these records, they are indexed on the date the records were created, which bears no relation to the deceased. Therefore it is not worth searching by date, only by name and location with advanced search.

The range of records in the collection currently available (listed alphabetically by English region and county, then by Welsh counties) is as follows: