Death and community in rural settlements: changing burial culture in small towns and villages, c. 1850-2007

A dataset of all places in which burial took place since 1850 in the local authority areas of Hambleton, Harrogate and Ryedale in North Yorkshire.This inventory of burial grounds contains 351 cases, with each case comprising a single burial location: cemetery, churchyard or burial ground. The data contains the location, religious denomination and ownership of each burial location and associated church buildings, with dates of opening, closure, restorations and expansions and other relevant variables.<p>The project considered the history of burial in rural and market-town areas after 1850. This study
of cemeteries and churchyards used national and county archives to explore for the first time
how local communities responded to churchyard closures and new cemetery creation. Hitherto,
historians and sociologists have described a shift from the ‘traditional’ sacred churchyard to the
municipal, secular and ‘scientific’ cemetery. This is a false dichotomy. New burial board
cemeteries were managed largely by parish vestries and, until the Burial Act of 1900, consecrated
cemetery land was in law regarded as an extension to parish burial space. In churchyards and
cemeteries alike, the proliferation of complex monuments increased through the nineteenth
century. Churchyard extensions created space for such expectations, particularly for families to
be buried together and ‘in perpetuity’, undermining the tradition of churchyard re-use.
A new aesthetic is the most persuasive explanation for the changing landscape of twentiethcentury
churchyards and cemeteries, as ‘cluttered’ Victorian styles fell out of favour.
Furthermore, maintenance was easier. The incidence of cremation increased substantially but has
not necessarily undermined rural churchyard use: space for cremated remains has often been
made available, for example in gardens of remembrance. For rural communities today, continued
use of a churchyard remains a preference where possible. Patterns of churchyard closure differed
between regions, being much more likely in the midlands, and less so than in North Yorkshire,
where the majority of churchyards remain in use. However, in both locations, the need to secure
more burial space remains problematic.</p>