SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Just curious to know which is the oldest grave in Leeds.

I doubt if there's a definitive way to find out, Hector, short of walking around every graveyard/cemetery and having a good look! Someone may know different, if it's on record. At a guess I'd say late 1550s/early1600s as before then only the very rich could afford/were allowed a permanent tomb. Cnosni - any ideas? You and Steve "Burn'Em" Jones spend a bit of time in graveyards...

I suspect that some of the graves in the graveyard of St Marys in the Wood Morley must be very old - there's been a place of worship on the site for over a 1000 years.

Some of the oldest graves will be at Adel Church, but of course it wasn't in Leeds at the time.There are some stone age tumuli in the woods at the back of Iveson House at ireland wood, would not be surprised to find burial sites there.There's also the Roman fort at Adel, one would expect old burials there.

The trouble with this subject is that only those at the wealthy end of the spectrum could afford gravestones,even into the 19th century.The very wealthy were buried inside the church,usually in the crypt,with some kind of memorial on the wall,see Leeds Parish Church for some classic examples and of course those that are in the larger places of worship such as Cathedrals or Minsters.The othe rproblem is that many of the chapels associated with the parish church in Leeds were rebuilt in the 19th century with the rapidly expanding population,and pretty much all of these had their graveyards altered in the process,something that also occured with the Parish church itself when the railway viaduct was built.So,i would GUESS that the oldest within Leeds proper will be within the Parish Church itself.There are some old stones scattered around St Johns in Upper Briggate,but the earliest there would be mid 17th century,and to be honest i dont rememeber any that old remaining outside.Not an easy answer to give ,as there may well be older graves in areas what we would now associate with Leeds.My motives for going round graveyards are different to Jonesys.Hes looking for Berrys

'My motives for going round graveyards are different to Jonesys.'Thing that worries me Chris is when Mrs Chameleon and her co-conspiritors go visiting these places looking for relatives with note books in hand - and a couple of shovels in the car boot

Enyone know which is the oldest public cemetery in leeds.

Wasn't Harehills one of the first 'municipal. cemeteries in Leeds?

Just to be pedantic, do you mean grave in what we think of as being a headstone and that or just where someone was buried?There must be some 13th century ones somewhere from when Leeds was first chartered. Do they still survive somewhere?What about those on St Georges Fields are there still graves there or did they just clear all the headstones.

Jak wrote: Enyone know which is the oldest public cemetery in leeds. Beckett Street,in fact one of the first in the country