‘Hundreds of headstones just chucked over fence’
ASTONISHMENT AT STONES PILED
A HISTORY enthusiast was astonished to find gravestones and other pieces of stone dumped in the corner of a city cemetery.
Matt Allen, 50, of Wigston, was having a stroll around Belgrave Cemetery, near Red Hill Circle in Leicester, when he spotted the headstones, which appeared to have been pulled out of the ground and thrown over a low fence around the perimeter of the cemetery.
He said: “We were there on Bank Holiday Monday having a look around because it’s a nice cemetery and generally looks in good condition.
“But then I spotted all these headstones around the top right end of the cemetery - there must be hundreds of them and they seem to have just been chucked over this 4ft iron fence.
“It’s a wonder the fence is still standing with the number of gravestones leaning against it.
“I just couldn’t understand why they would all be there. I looked at some old maps to see if maybe the cemetery had been made smaller to make way for a road or something, but it seems to have always been the same size.
“There are just so many and some are less than 100 years old.
“Even if it’s not something that’s been done recently, it’s terrible to see them all chucked over the fence onto waste ground like that. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
The Mercury contacted Leicester City Council, who said the items were mostly old broken grave surrounds and kerb sets, rather than all being headstones, and had been there for the past 40 to 50 years after being moved by the council to tidy the cemetery up.
A spokeswoman said: “The cemetery opened in 1881 but by the 1960s was seeing very few burials.
“By then Gilroes and Saffron Hill Cemeteries had become the principal cemeteries as both Belgrave and Welford Road cemeteries filled up.
“The cemetery chapel was demolished in 1967 after falling into disrepair and lack of use. Welford Road Cemetery chapels were also demolished around this time.
“From the late 60s through early 70s the council also worked to remove many of the old and broken kerb sets from graves, including at Gilroes and Welford Road to make them safer and easier to maintain. Anything with an inscription on it was stacked up to enable families to remove at the time, but obviously many didn’t and they have remained there ever since as part of the cemetery’s heritage.”
She said the Friends of Belgrave Cemetery hold guided walks and Heritage Open Days on site in normal times and sometimes mention the discarded gravestones.