Why are Burial Grounds Important?

Burial grounds are not simply places for the burial of the dead. They provide areas for the living to commemorate those who have died, a focal point to record and appreciate the life, aesthetics and ethos of previous generations, and, by default or design, a lightly used largely unbuilt environment offering an open space refuge for local flora and fauna, as well as for human recreation and enjoyment. The interest and appeal of burial grounds is to an audience much wider than those who have a friend or relative buried in the site.
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The inscription on memorials, the design of monuments, the choice of stones, the architecture of building and landscape design shed light on past social customs and events and combine to make a cemetery an
irreplaceable historical resource.

​As an important record of the social history of the area, each cemetery is also the biography of its community. 
​The combination of architecture, sculpture, landscape, wildlife and poetry makes cemeteries like no other place in the historic environment. 

What are the Threats to Burial Grounds?

There are many threats to burial grounds, but they all have one common cause - neglect.
Lack of funding has led to this neglect in some cases, but in the case of Warrington and it's closed burial grounds, Warrington Borough Council have a lot to answer for. 
There are around 9 cemeteries that they are responsible for the maintenance of, as well as their own burial grounds.
(It is impossible to give an exact number as the council website does not mention any of these sites)
Nearly all of these are overgrown and neglected.

A gravestone laid flat and another overgrown

Read Warrington Borough Council's Record of Neglect