Graveyard
This is a list of graveyards in Chester, and a bit of a commentary on "the dead of Chester" in general. It is an established fact that in Chester, as elsewhere, the dead outumber the living significantly. Estimates of the relative proportions vary, but a reasonable estimate is that for everyone alive today there are some ~15 "ghosts" available. Many of the old graveyards of Chester have vanished, but in walking around the city one frequently encounters echoes of this aspect of the past.
A brief history of burials in (or near) Chester
Though there is ongoing debate regarding the reliability of dating methods, some scholars believe the earliest human burials date back to a very early period in human history. The nature of burial is of great interest to anthropologists and the remains, the context and any associated grave goods are frequently studied by archaeologists. It is probably true that if you are looking for an archaeologist then the best place to start is a graveyard. Funerary archaeology (or burial archaeology) is a branch of archaeology that studies the treatment and commemoration of the dead. It includes the study of human remains, their burial contexts, and from single grave goods through to monumental landscapes. Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and communal memorials to the dead, such as war memorials, which may or may not contain remains, and a range of prehistoric megalithic constructs. Funerary art may serve many cultural functions. It can play a role in burial rites, serve as an article for use by the dead in the afterlife, and celebrate the life and accomplishments of the dead. It can also function as a reminder of the mortality of humankind, as an expression of cultural values and roles, and might be believed to help to propitiate spirits of the dead, maintaining their benevolence and preventing their unwelcome intrusion into the lives of the living. In many instances, specialized funeral art was produced for the powerful and wealthy, although the burials of ordinary people might sometimes include simple monuments and grave goods, usually from their possessions. An important factor in the development of traditions of funerary art is the division between what was intended to be visible to visitors or the public after completion of the funeral ceremonies. Knowledge of many non-literate cultures is drawn from these sources. Some care is needed in interpreting it, as the tombs of high-status individuals might be very different than those of the general population.
Prehistoric

Burials from the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) are characterized by single or multiple cave burials, possibly because only these sites have survived the desctructive effects of glaciation, or perhaps indicating a preference for burial in such places. Extant physical remains of late Palaeolithic Homo sapiens are extremely scarce in Britain.
Burial remains from the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) are very rare and there are none from Cheshire. Burial in the Mesolithic is characterized by a shift from single or small groups of burials to larger cemeteries in the open. These seem to continue the later Palaeolithic traditions of burial with the apparent importance of red ochre, ornaments of shell and teeth, and provision of tools and food.
It is from the Neolithic (New Stone Age) that the first structures associated with funeral rights appear indicating that a community effort was being put into their construction. It also indicates a more settled and less nomadic way of life. The religion seems to have been particularly concerned with the bones of ancestors. There are three known burial sites in Cheshire. They are a crop mark of a suspected mortuary enclosure at Churton (very little to see on site), a possible long barrow at Somerford and the best known are the Bridestones at Congleton. It is not known what the critera were for burial in these structures. While their size indicates that a group effort would be needed for their construction, the actual burials may have been restricted to certain high status individuals. A common theme is that the chambers contain the broken-up remains of between five and 50 individuals – men, women and children of all ages. Grave goods were few – just the occasional pot and selected personal ornaments. It appears that these barrows were opened from time to time for the addition of corpses and parts of bodies that had been stored or buried elsewhere.
The Bridestones is regarded as an outlier to the more extensive and somewhat later Beaker culture of the Peak District, and was a chambered cairn. It was once one of the most impressive Neolithic monuments in Europe and is now little more than a few stones at the edge of a field. It was described in 1764 as being 120 yards (110 m) long and 12 yards (11 m) wide, containing three separate compartments, of which only one remains today. The remaining compartment is 6 metres (20 ft) long by 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) wide, and consists of vertical stone slabs, divided by a now-broken cross slab. The cairn originally had a stone circle associated with it, with four portal stones; two of these portal stones still remain.
The Bronze Age is the period most strongly represented in Cheshire before 1066 with 44 scheduled ancient monuments, almost all of which are round barrows. At its simplest, a round barrow is a hemispherical mound of earth and/or stone raised over a burial placed in the middle.
The best-known prehistoric burial near Chester is that which resulted in the discovery of the Mold Cope: a ceremonial cape of solid sheet-gold from Wales dating from about 1900–1600 BC in the British Bronze Age. It was found at a burial mound near Mold, Flintshire in 1833. The burial mound was known as Bryn yr Ellyllon, which translates to "Goblins' Hill". The gold cape had been placed on the body of a person who was interred in a rough cist (stone-lined grave) within the mound. The preserved remains of the skeleton were fragmentary, and the cape was badly crushed.
Roman
The burial customs of the ancient Romans were influenced by both of the first significant cultures whose territories they conquered as their state expanded, namely the Greeks of Magna Graecia and the Etruscans. The original Roman custom was cremation, after which the burnt remains were kept in a pot, ash-chest or urn. In later periods, life-size sculptures of the deceased reclining as though at a meal or social gathering are found, a common Etruscan style.
Roman law generally prohibited burials within city walls, and tombs were often located along roads or near rivers where they may have symbolised passage to the afterlife by ferry. Some were still cremated and buried in urns, others buried in stone-lined tombs. In the Roman Gardens in Chester is an arrangement of stones that attempts to reconstruct from fragments a wealthy Roman tomb that once stood to the south of the Dee. The associated signage explains that the coping stones on display included two from Eaton Road, Handbridge associated with the cremated remains of a young adult. Further details of Roman funereal finds at Heronbridge can be found in this paper. One of the items recovered in 2002 was a slab carved with what is known as a ‘funerary banquet’ scene, one of the stock images regularly used on Roman tombs and tombstones and one that occurs frequently in the Chester collection. In this the deceased is typically shown reclining on a low couch decorated with mouldings in front of which is a small, usually three-legged, table with a round top on which refreshments are laid out. Sometimes a servant is shown in the foreground.

The most spectacular collection of Roman grave monuments in Chester are to be found in the Grosvenor Museum. The museum houses the largest collection of Roman tombstones from a single site in Britain. With a few exceptions, all the stones in the gallery had been reused at some time to repair the City Walls. The tombstones on display tell us something about the lives of the soldiers, slaves, women and children who lived in Roman Chester. Thirty five tombstones are on display. The first few were found in 1883. More were found in 1887, buried inside the lower part of the City Walls near the Phoenix Tower. Eventually, between 1883 and 1892, over 150 tombstones were found in the north wall. This is still the most spectacular archaeological find made in Chester. This section of the walls were probably repaired late in the Roman period between 300 and 400 CE and why the tombstones were used is a mystery: there may have been a desparate need for repair due to some threat, or the gravestones may have been percieved to be no longer "sacred". However, they were well preserved inside the wall and survived unharmed for 1500 years.
Further graves were uncovered when the Infirmary was being built and enlarged. Chester historian Frank Simpson recorded that, in 1858 (while preparing railway sidings to accommodate exhibitors at the Royal Agricultural Show) workmen discovered several Roman tombs, which contained such articles as terra-cotta lamps, clay vessels and coins of the period of Domitian (Roman emperor from 81 to 96). Burials during the Roman period also took place in other locations as in the case of Callimorphus a Greek trader, who died together with his son Serapion while on a voyage to Chester about AD 90. It's possible that his brother Thesaeus accompanied them on the journey and so was able to pay for what would have been a rather expensive monument. How Callimorphus died is unknown, but father and son dying together suggests a common cause, such as disease, rather than accident.
From the fourth century onward, two general burial trends can be identified:
- A trend is distinguished by the inclusion of a wide range of grave goods such as weapons, jewellery and pottery vessels. Such accompanied burial included varied body positions, crouched, prone or supine, and varied orientation with a tendency for a north-south alignment;
- Inhumation in an extended supine position and by a paucity, but not necessarily a total lack, of grave goods. These burials were oriented east-west with head to the west and often placed in burial containers, such as wooden coffins, stone-sarcophagi and stone-lined graves. Such burials were sometimes interred in mausolea or separated from other burials by ditched enclosures. These inhumations are also associated with managed cemeteries, where burials were laid out in neat rows with little or no overlap of graves.
How such burials should be interpreted has been the subject of considerable debate.
After the Romans
One possible indication of early Anglo-Saxon pagan burial is the place-name Henwald's Lowe (later the Gorse Stacks), extramural and just north-east of the Roman fortress. Henwald's Lowe became common land, and its name, a combination of an Old English personal name and Old English hlaw, "mound" or "hill", may indicate an early aristocratic burial. There is a "mound" on the corner of St Anne Street near Northgate Arena which is sometimes said to be the original "Lowe" or "Loaf", but photographs of the construction of the Ring Road show that this was not present when this section started construction. Dodgson also suggests that other pagan burials may have give rise to place-names such as "Deadmans Suck" (Frodsham Lordship), or "Dedemonnes Greue" (Storeton).
Early Christians had no specific burial practices in terms of location and seem to have followed the prevailing customs of the societies around them. In the Roman world, this meant burial outside the settlement, usually along roads. Nothing is really known about where the post-Roman occupants of Chester would have buried their dead.
As Christianity spread, burials within churches became common, with the nobility and gentry eventually gaining burial rights in the chancel and other areas. Burials of the lower classes were dispersed around guild chapels, nave aisles, or near popular devotional images. Authorities differ as to the dates at which church burial became at first desirable and then mandatory. The traditional model for the archaeological investigation of saints‘ cults focuses on special graves and churches in extra-mural Roman cemeteries. The model developed from an understanding of the development of the cult of saints whereby cults arose from the veneration of martyrs at graveside feasts outside the walls of Roman towns. Due to the widespread belief that burial near the saints, ad sanctos, would improve one‘s chances of salvation, cellae memoriae (the burial sites of saints) became the focus of burial for other Christians who wanted to be in proximity to the holy dead. These shrines sometime developed into churches, but there is no firm evidence for this in Chester.
Of course, the association of religion with the relics of saints could lead to problems as the religion spread. However it was quite acceptable to move relics about and even steal them (the assumption being that the saint "wanted" the relic to be stolen). Thus, the practice of the church became that relics were placed under altars. The Second Council of Nicaea (787) would later decree that all churches were to have altars containing relics of saints, in effect creating a new "burial place" for the saint, with the altar representing a tomb.
In Chester there are four potentially early religious establishments outside of the Roman walls. St Johns next to the Amphitheatre may be associated with an early crypt which possibly pre-dates its traditional establishment by Æthelred of Mercia in 689. St Olave comes from much later, as did perhaps the vanished St Chad. The fourth is St Bridget, which was just outside the original Roman walls.
Burials have been found at Heronbridge, the site of the Battle of Chester. A mass grave contained a total of 34 males or probable males consisting of two rows of skeletons, aligned west to east, with the upper row along the eastern edge of the grave overlying the feet and lower legs of the lower row skeletons to the west.

Approximately 20 skeletons from Heronbridge were excavated and analysed in 1933. A further two skeletons were excavated by the Chester Archaeological Society in 2004. Osteological analysis revealed that both skeletons were male. Skeleton 1 was aged between 36 and 45, while Skeleton 2 was a young adult, aged between eighteen and 25 years. Skeleton 1 had battle injuries, which were well-healed and had been inflicted some time before death, suggestin a veteran. Skeleton 1 had also suffered from a probable defence injury to the right thumb and a stab wound through the abdomen. Both individuals also suffered from several peri-mortem (at death) blade injuries, which were concentrated on the skull and were fatal. This is all consistent with them having died in battle.
The fact that the bodies were laid with some care and the nature of the injuries suggests these may be the Northumbrian casualties following the battle against British cavalry. Skeletons lifted in 2004 were radiocarbon-dated with a 95% chance of probability of being within the range AD 430-640, or 59% probability within the range AD 530-620, and with 95% probability of being within the range AD 530-660, or 51% probability within range AD 595-645. These results are consistent with a calendar date in the early 7th century AD. Isotopic analysis of trace-elements in their teeth enamel has confirmed that the men had spent at least the early part of their life in North East England. Being able to repeat this analysis on remains which were of mixed sex and not associated with battle injuries, especially if they formed a kin group, could shed further light on the nature of migration. Unfortunately, no suitable burial site has been identified in Cheshire that could enable this. The current consensus is that the bodies are some of the dead from Æthelfrith's army at the Battle of Chester.
In 561 the Council of Braga permitted burials around churches, but not inside them. The Council of Nantes in c.660 allowed burials in the porch and subsidiary buildings.
Saxons
Just when the Saxons arrived "permanently" in Chester has been the subject of much debate. If the pagan English immigrants were few in number amongst a Christian Welsh population, it might be expected that the English pagan burial sites would be small in size and few in number. Further, the cultural minority represented by such a pagan-burying English community might quickly find itself adopting the customs of the majority in such matters and possibly, after the first generation in the new land, an assimilation of burial custom by the minority to that of the majority in a society in which English and Welsh lived side by side. If the pagan burial sites contained few burials they would be hardly noticeable under the plough or the spade of later ages. On the other hand, if the English were already converted to christianity at the time of their arrival then even if they arrived in significant numbers no pagan graveyards would be created. The conversion of Mercia to Christianity occurred in the latter part of the 7th century, and was carried out almost entirely by Northumbrian and Irish monks of the Celtic Rite.
Early churchyards are often said to have been curvilinear or even almost circular. An interesting example near Chester is at Overchurch on the Wirral. The church, of which little remains, was demolished in 1813. Among the stones taken from the site to build a new church at Upton (Wirral) was a large fragment of an Anglo-Saxon grave marker inscribed with runic lettering. The fragment points to a church on this site before the Conquest. The remains of the churchyard enclosure consist of a bank and outside ditch enclosing an oval area 26m from west to east and 16m from north to south. The interior of the enclosure is raised from the surrounding ground level by 0.45m. The graveyard is oval, and more interestingly appears to have been surrounded by a circle of standing stones. In the interior there are the remains of gravestones, now heaped up in the centre of the yard. Many are damaged and there is evidence that they have been broken to provide stone for rockeries in neighbouring gardens. Yew trees grow out of the bank on the west side.

The "stone circle" at Overchurch may be a co-incidence of the placement of rocks, and unfortunately the site has been so disturbed by building such that the remains of any potential circle have largely been lost. Indeed, the only real evidence for its existence comes from OS maps. Statistically, that three points will lie on a circle is a trivial certainty (unless they lie on a straight line). For four points the odds are much lower. At Overchurch five of the six stones marked on the OS map lie very close to a circle, with four being close to the sextile angles and the fifth being the midpoint of a sextile chord. The site of the original church, where the runic memorial stone pictured was found is close to the center of the circle. Nothing is known of the person whom the rune-stone commemorates. Æthelmund is an Old English masculine name formed from the elements æðel "noble" and mund "protection". The name had been widely used in England since the eighth century, but by the end of the tenth century was perhaps becoming both less common and geographically restricted to western Mercia.
According to Fuller’s "Church History of Britain", bodies were first allowed to be brought for burial in church buildings in A.D. 758. At that time burial was confined to the porch, but Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury (died October 760) appears to have set a precedent by contriving to have his body buried inside the church of St. John the Baptist in Canterbury. This seems to have been taken as authority for burial within church buildings. Cuthbert is also named as the source of the mandate (some say in 752) that bodies should be buried in churchyards, instead of outside the city limits as had been the custom previously. Cuthbert probably owed his selection as archbishop in 740 to the influence of Æthelbald, King of Mercia (from 716 - died 757). In August 1979 a large sculptured stone was discovered, broken and upside down in an 11th or early 12th century pit immediately outside the eastern window of the Anglo-Saxon crypt of the church of St Wystan at Repton in Derbyshire. It is known as the Repton Stone and just may a funeral monument to Æthelbald and, if so, it is the earliest pictorial representation of an English monarch. Æthelbald was the first in a series of Mercian kings to be buried at Repton and whether there is any association between Cuthbert being buried in church and Repton Stone is unknown.
Churches and Churchyards
Early burials in churches took various forms. Some would have been inhumations in the floor but others were much more elaborate.
Tomb chests are essentially memorials in the shape of a rectangular chest or box, the totality of which is above ground in a churchyard and floor standing within a church. Those in churchyards are placed over the grave of the deceased or possibly a vault. An interesting example in Chester is the Hurlston monument at Plemstall (see: Plegmund).
Inside a church the body of the associated person is often in a vault not necessarily immediately below the memorial and over time many chest tombs have been moved about, to accommodate other memorials or simply to free up space. There are some interior chest tombs that do house the remains of the deceased or are immediately above the site of interment but this is more likely in cathedrals and large churches. Where more simply decorated chest tombs face the elements in the churchyard, those inside a church could be highly decorative, with impressive effigies, detailed embellishments and lots of colour. While other figures, aside from animals, may be noted at the head or feet of an effigy, with some thought to be a representation of babies or children that had pre deceased the subject/s, figures on the panels of a tomb chest are known as "weepers". Where in the early period of medieval tomb chests panels were plain, they became more decorative with tracery, shields, niches and weepers during the fourteenth century.

The Gamul tomb in St Mary on the Hill at Chester has effigies of Thomas Gamull (d. 1613) and his wife Alice Bavand. Thomas Gamul(l) was MP for Chester and the father of Sir Francis Gamull who appears on the tomb as a seated schoolboy with books. Many such monuments elsewhere were destroyed during the Civil War but those at St Mary were apparently the subject of an agreement with the Parliamentary forces to prevent damage to them.
Churchyards would eventually become "full". In more modern times the site is then closed to futher burials. In earlier times when people were buried in just shrouds and not coffins it is possible that in many soil types there would be few remains left after a couple of centuries. Graves could then be re-used. Early churchyards would not have contained many stone grave markers as these were too costly for the average person. Often the only stone monument was a large cross, although many of these were destroyed during the Reformation. After the Restoration churchyards begin to fill up with tombstones, recording personal status, family ties, occupation and epitaphs, as well as sometimes very macabre iconography. As with burials inside the church, burials outside had their pecking order. Burial on the east side of a churchyard was preferred, with the body facing east in order to rise on the day of judgement. Burial on the north side was reserved for the illegitimate, criminals, suicides and strangers, and was therefore a less favourable location. In some medieval churchyards men, women and children were buried in different areas while in an age with few ethnic minorities Jews were usually allocated a distinct area.
One modern echo of this type of religio-morality was the requirement to bury victims of capital punishment (except for murder) in the prison grounds. Murderer's as discussed below were frequently subjected to dissection and there would have been little left for burial. Chester Castle, serving as a county gaol would have had its own burial ground.
Headstones began short and stout, gradually becoming taller and less chunky as the centuries progressed – although this could depend on the quality of the local stone. More elaborate ornamentation and inscriptions became popular. These earlier grave stones had their inscriptions facing away from the actual burial plot, and some had a ‘body stone’ covering the burial, or a small ‘footstone’ indicating the length of the grave. In some cases the direction of the headstone was reoriented by the Victorians. The Victorians often marked the limits of a grave or family plot using kerbstones or railings. As the times changed, so did decorative motifs, one of the most notable metamorphosis being that of the infamous grinning skull and crossbones. This first evolved into a flying head before morphing into a cherub.
There are several theories about the origins of the skull and cross-bones symbol on graves. Most historians believe that the skull and cross-bones design originated in the Late Middle Ages as a symbol of death and especially as a memento mori on tombstones. There is a theory, perhaps apocryphal that if crusaders died in the middle-east the remains returned to their home would include only the skull and thigh-bones. Some basis for this may exist in the practice at the time that the dead should be buried in their own parish church. There are also suggestions that in medieval times the skull and thigh bones were somehow required for resurrection. In practice it would appear that if anything was transported back to Europe it was most probably the heart. There are other theories associated with the Masons and the Knight's Templars, but these appear to have arisen much later. It has even been suggested that they are plague victims and therefore best left undisturbed. However the use of the skull and crossed bones as a "toxic" or danger symbol only appears to have been used since the 1850's.
Pillars often feature as funeral momuments. Inside a church, a monument with a broken pillar generally indicates the extinction of the male line of a family, but out in the cemeteries and churchyards this does not seem to be particularly the case - after all, these are generally 19th Century memorials and the close attention to symbolism had often been lost by then, at least in tombs: the truncated pillar came to symbolise someone who who died "before their time" rather than the end of a line. Winged angels which were often mass-produced are also commonplace on Victorian and Edwardian graves.
Although it is the public law duty of the Church of England and, to a certain extent, of the Church in Wales, to provide for burials in open churchyards, there is at present no statutory requirement on any public authority or private undertaking to make available a place for burial.
In 2017, bones were discovered near the site of the mediaeval Franciscan church in Chester, on Cuppin Street. It is believed that there are hundreds more people buried in what appears to be a mass grave.
Necropoli
By Victorian times a whole new set of burial rituals appeared. The 1854 Burial Act paved the way for civil cemeteries to be established outside London (an Act of the previous year had dealt exclusively with the metropolis) and as part of this Act a national survey was conducted of existing burial grounds, this in the wake of growing public health concerns especially following a recent national cholera epidemic. The Victorians came up with the "Garden Cemetery", situated in the suburbs, laid out like parks and dotted with attractive grave monuments.
Even before the 1854 Act Overleigh Cemetery started life as a privately owned burial ground. It was laid out between 1848 and 1850 by T. M. Penson. This original part of the cemetery to the north of Overleigh Road is described by the authors of the Buildings of England series as having been "highly romantic", and as still being "eminently picturesque". Overleigh Cemetery was a development by the Chester General Cemetery Company; it was consecrated on 12 November 1850 by the Bishop of Chester; in 1875 it contained a lake with three islands, two chapels, two lodges, paths and trees, and a house for the chaplain. It was extended to the south in 1879.
A very useful site on Overleigh Cemetery is its "Friends" Fackbook page. This contains much research giving background on some of the occupants. Another very useful source is The Overleigh Cemetery on "Virtual Stroll".
Shortly after the opening of Overleigh tha last of the parish church graveyards in Chester were closed. It is the brial place not only of the architect Penson but also of both Douglas and Lockwood two other noted architects.
Blacon Cemetery was laid out in 1940, during the Second World War, when two plots, in Sections A and H, were set aside for service burials. The cemetery's first interment took place on 20 December 1941. The cemetery contains in all the war graves of 461 Commonwealth service personnel, including an unidentified Royal Air Force airman, and 97 war graves of other nationalities (86 of them Polish servicemen from various hospitals in the area) that are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The plot in Section A was a Royal Air Force regional cemetery for air personnel from bases in Cheshire and neighbouring counties, while members of other armed services were buried in Section H.
Locations
Cathedral
The style of some of the memorials suggests that they may be medieval but there are believed to be no surviving in situ medieval tombs within the cathedral: all that remain are all post-medieval memorials situated on floors (in only a few surviving instances) and (mainly) walls. The "effigy" tombs are Victorian and elements of the restoration at that time, when the recumbent effigy had something of a come-back during the 19th-century Gothic revival, especially for bishops and other clerics. They include the 19th-century effigy tomb to 17th-century theologian and bishop John Pearson (died 16 July 1686) in (and almost filling) the north transept. He was a royalist chaplain (1645) in the civil war, but during Cromwell's regime he lived quietly in London. After the Restoration, Pearson became Master of Jesus College, Cambridge (1660), Margaret Professor of Divinity (1661), Master of Trinity College (1662), and bishop of Chester. The tomb was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield. The effigy was sculpted by Matthew Noble and the stonework by Nicholas Earp and paid for by American funds nearly two centuries after Pearson’s death. The other effigy tomb in the south transept is a memorial to the first duke of Westminster (d. 1899), designed by C. J. Blomfield with an effigy by F. W. Pomeroy in 1902. The duke died in Dorset, was cremated in Woking Crematorium and his ashes were buried in the churchyard of Eccleston Church.

Select fragments of medieval tombs and graves found during renovations and excavations over the centuries are installed on display in the south and west aisle of the cloister of the former Benedictine Abbey. These include a series of 12th/13th/14th-century grave-slabs, some bearing floriate crosses and other vegetal ornamentation. A few have fragments of texts, commemorating abbots of the monastery. The 12th-century abbots were buried in the cloister, first in the south-east angle and later in the east range in front of the chapter house doors; the Romanesque niches in the walls of the south cloister have been supposed to house some of their tombs. In the 13th century, with a single exception, the abbots were buried in the chapter house, where Simon Whitchurch (d. 1291) had an especially splendid monument with a canopy supported by six marble columns. From 1323 the abbots were generally buried in the choir, a fashion begun by Thomas Birchills, whose memorial slab, adorned with a brass effigy, was located between the pillars of the south choir arcade. His tomb was thought to have been discovered in 1787 east of the bishop's throne. A further slab, bearing the matrix of a brass effigy with mitre and crozier and surviving in the south-east corner of the sanctuary in 1755, was perhaps that of William Bebington (d. before 1352), the first mitred abbot, who was laid to rest beside Birchills. One of the two 14th-century tomb recesses in the south wall of the choir may be that of William Merston (d. 1387), said to have been buried outside the choir near the 'pyramid'. Other abbots were buried in the chapter house, the easternmost bay of the nave, and St. Erasmus's chapel. To the west of the two canopied niches in the south choir aisle was another grave, opened in 1874 and supposed to have been the tomb of the monastic chronicler Ranulph Higden author of the Polychronicon. One of the causes of damage to the cathedral were the burials which took place there. People wanted to be buried inside the church even though this was quite expensive for those who had to pay and the effect was to undermine much of the structure.
One of the more interesting is the "Simon Ripley" stone. This was discovered under the Chapter House in 1724 and because it bears the symbol of a dog/wolf was thought at first to be the tomb of Hugh of Avranches, Norman earl of Chester. Hemingway puts the discovery down to a "Mr Henchman, a school master". Doubts has been expressed from the time of the discovery of the remains that this was actually Hugh "Lupus". Even local tradition holds that he was first buried in the cemetery of Saint Werberg, and only later reburied in the Chapter House, normally reserved for abbots. While Pennant supported the theory that this was indeed the founding earl, the Lysons noted the initials "RS" and concluded that this was Richard Seynesbury, elected abbot in 1349, and buried in 1363 (see: Polychronicon). The problem with Lyson theory is that the troublesome Seynesbury only resigned in 1363 and actually died in Lombardy, and was buried there, possibly as late as 1397. Others have argued that this was the body of abbot Simon Ripley. The "Black Dog" was the emblem of Simon Ripley, abbot of St Werbugh from 1485 until 1493. Abbot Simon has been described as: "a prelate of great ability, and a man of energy, a man of taste, a man of piety, and a thorough man of business", and decorated the gatehouse of his palace at Saighton with his emblem, the black dog. The gatehouse survives as the entrance porch to "Saighton Grange" (now renamed as "Abbey Gate College" - as no-one wants to send their child to a school whose name sounds like "Satan Grange"). The head of a dog is carved into the base of the oriel window. It is probably true that the name of the nearby Black Dog public house comes from the same origin. Not unsuprisingly the origins of the "Black Dog of Saighton" have been forgotten and it has passed into local folklore as a spectral hound: helped, no-doubt by the 1971 folk-song (see: Charles Moston). The problem with the theory that this is Ripley's grave is that the antiquatian Dugdale states that Ripley died in Warwick and is buried there.
Outside the Cathedral the paths of the WW2 memorial garden are flagged with reused memorials (and fragments of) from the 19th-century and earlier graves that formerly occupied this space. In addition, there are some memorials seemingly in their original position, covering tombs close to the church wall. The churchyard had been neglected after the reformation; defiled from the 1550s by animals and the filth repeatedly thrown into it, it was levelled and enclosed only in 1619, and still contained a dunghill in 1634.
St Oswald's Parish Church was (at times) housed in Chester Cathedral. Apparently, it had by the later 12th century a cemetery outside the Northgate, associated with the chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury and served by the monks of St. Werburgh's. The precise location of this burial ground is unknown. Its burial rights were guaranteed by agreements with St. John's and by a papal bull in the late 12th and 13th century. The chapel, which was within the walls near the site of the present Bishop's residence, was closed in 1882 and was succeeded by St Thomas of Canterbury, Parkgate St, Chester.
St Johns
This was Chester's original cathedral and after the dissolution survived as a parish church. In 1912 most of the tombs and headstones were removed from around the outside of St John the Baptist, Chester. The graves themselves including bodies were left in the ground. Headstone inscriptions and grave locations were detailed in a book called "Monumental Inscriptions – St John the Baptist Chester 1912". Many memorial slabs have been used to create pathways outside of the church. In 2009 the condition of the gravestones was deteriorating due to erosion caused by a combination of the weather and people walking over them. The gravestone inscriptions on the 49 remaining gravestones were recorded here for future reference.
The "Coffin in the Wall" has been the subject of many bogus legends which appear to have been made-up by city guides. Apparently, it was discovered during renovation work or grave-digging – perhaps in the 1840s – near the south wall of the church. The vivid inscription bearing the words "Dust to Dust" is more probably a Victorian rather than a medieval addition. One 'G.T.", writing in the Cheshire Sheaf in November 1878, gives it's story as follows:
- "The perambulating Chester Guides, a race not yet quite extinct, have from time to time made up many a foolish story about this solid oak coffin for the delectation of their Lancashire dupes, who usually pay more court to that ghastly old shell than to the beautiful architectural ruins and church that adjoin it. One story is that it was the coffin of a monk who murdered one of his brethren at St. John's, and at his own death was refused the ordinary Christian burial, whether within the church or beneath the green sod of the churchyard. Another is that a dignitary of the church was at his own request 'buried' up there in a standing position, so that, when the last trumpet should sound, he might be ready at once to answer the call. Another is that a wicked old parishioner of past days was unable to rest in his grave, and that Satan himself had helped to place him in the lofty position so that he might look down, in perpetual penance, on the fair world he had defiled by his sins. I have overheard during the last dozen years every one of these stories recounted in sober earnest by Mr. Guide to his morbid listeners. The real story of the coffin is soon told. Forty years ago, when a boy at school, I remember old John Carter, the then sexton of the Cathedral, going with me at my request into St. John's Ruins (at that time enveloped within a brick wall, and portion of the of the old Priory House), to show me the relic and then fresh-looking inscription. He assured me on the spot that his father, who was sexton of St. John's a great number of years, had in his younger days come upon the coffin while digging a grave in a long disused part of the churchyard; and had, by the Rector's (Mr. Richardson's) orders, stuck it up in the recess where it still stands, so that it might be out of the way of passers by! Thus has a very matter of fact in incident given rise in superstitious minds to no end of mystery. The date of the coffin is probably of the latter half of the 15th century and the relic has this one element of real interest in it, that it is composed of a single block of oak which has been hollowed out to receive the body".
The coffin in the wall is not the most famous mysterious burial at St Johns. There is a long-standing myth that Harold survived the Battle of Hastings and eventually became the occupant of a Hermitage at Chester. In 1770 (according to Lysons' Magn. Brit. vol. ii) two skeletons were discovered here in coffin-shaped cavities, scooped out of the rock. Legend has it that Harold II Godwinson's queen, Aldgyth, became a nun in Chester and when she died, she was said to have been buried in the grounds of St. John's. Two skeletons - perhaps Harold and his queen together again at last? Another version of the story states that Queen Aldgyth, gave birth to King Harold's son, (Harold Haroldson) at Chester in 1067, and it was the revolt against William, now crowned King of England, led by Aldgyth's brothers, Edwin and Morcar, which led to William's nightmare winter march from Yorkshire in the winter of 1069/70 and the brother's defeat at Stafford, the fall of the Chester and the harrowing of land about. Aldgyth most likely fled with her infant son to Dublin, and disappeared from recorded history. The whereabouts of Harold's mortal remains will perhaps continue to be a mystery, however, the marked gravesite at Waltham Abbey was once excavated out of curiosity - and it was found to be empty.
Monuments inside the church include that to Diana Warburton 1693 by Edward Pearce, with sculpted skeleton. Such tombs are related to a particular type of late medieval effigy, the transi, or cadaver monument, in which the effigy is in the macabre form of a decomposing corpse, or such a figure lies on a lower level, beneath a more conventional effigy. Cadaver monuments first appeared in the 1380s and remained a popular form of funerary art for 200 subsequent years. The format is in stark contrast to gisants, which are always recumbent, in full dress, often with open eyes and hands clasped and raised in prayer.
Other monuments in St Johns are to Cecil Warburton 1729 with bust in relief; effigies on floor of north aisle, Agnes de Ridlegh 1347, a C14 Knight and C14 priest; in south aisle Anne Truslove 1833; Major J Bedward Royle RWE, 1917; Matthew Anderton (Baroque plaque) 1693; Thomas Gamul 1677; Humphrey Phillips et al. 1662 & 1639; Jane Brother 1666; Rev. William Richards 1837; John Bostock 1716; brass to Edmund Borlase 1682 Mary Townshend and son George Crufts 1751; Robert Bulkeley 1679; Thos Hassall (C17); John Powell, sexton, 1881; brass to Alice Wright 1906; John Jones 1816 & Grace 1828 & Edward 1834; Katherine Wynne (sculpted plaque) 1650. Edward Harbert 1691; on west wall of nave Pryce Holland Williams 1892; Thos Hughes, Sheriff of Chester, 1890; brass war memorial 1939-45, 13 names; George Baxter 1890; Charlotte Morris 1850; H Trowbridge Moor 1857; Thos Tolver 1829; painted alabaster armorial shields from tomb of Alexander and Alice Looes, c1600. The North aisle has monuments to Hannah Aldersey 1718 & daughter Eliz. Davies 1717; Giles 1720 & Katherine Peacock 1721; Robert Barker Physician to Infirmary 1808; Arthur Forbes of County Meath 1788; Mary Drury 1895; Benjamin Perryn & wife 1761 & 1781; Emily Marsden 1913; Edith Howard Haswell et al, 1916; Sidney Lee 1785; Mary Ellen Fleetwood 1905; Charles Falconer 1702 (?) William Falconer & wife 1764; Meadows Frost 1883; Chas W Seller 1889; Margaret Thomason 1807. In the Lady chapel are monuments to Cornelius Hignett et al 1785 & 1735 and Susannah Jane Scott wife of Rev. Samuel Cooper Scott 1909.
St Mary's Priory
In c.1150 Ranulph De Gernon, earl of Chester, granted some crofts from his demesne to the nuns of Chester. On the site, to the north west of the castle, were to be built the conventual buildings and a church dedicated to St. Mary. The earl was dealing with a body of nuns already in existence and the original founder was possibly Hugh, son of Oliver, a citizen of Chester, who held the crofts from the earl. The community is, however, unlikely to have been in being for long before the site was granted and Ranulph II was traditionally regarded by the nuns as their founder. The ruins of the house of the Benedictine Nuns of St.Mary’s can be seen in the Buck Brothers engraving of 1728. Little is known about the size or state of the house in its first 150 years. It was evidently regarded as an attractive place for burials and in an agreement with the monks of St. Werburgh's and the canons of St. John's the nuns promised not to entice any of the inhabitants of Chester to be buried with them and to share the offerings of those who chose to be buried within their precinct: two thirds of which had to go to the abbey and St Johns. Some information on the nuns can be found on Virtual Stroll and more on British History Online.
A grave slab from the priory is on display outside the HQ building, next to the Grosvenor Road roundabout at the northern approach to Grosvenor Bridge. It would have been laid horizontally over the grave, covering the deceased, but here is displayed vertically.
St John's Hospital
In the late 12th or early 13th century agreements were made between St Johns and the monks of St. Werburgh's to preserve their common burial privileges. The two communities allowed St. John's hospital outside the Northgate to have a graveyard but restricted burial there to the brethren and poor of that house, provided that they had worn its habit in good health and for at least eight days. Similar arrangements were made with the friars.
St Giles Cemetery
In terms of cemeteries being "piled-up" due to the number of burials St Giles on the A51 approach to Chester is an exceptional case. It is a mound of earth butressed by a wall that it threatens to overwhelm. A stone tablet (from 1935) mounted above the south side of the wall to Christleton Road is inscribed:
- "SAINT GILES CEMETERY: HERE STOOD THE LEPER HOSPITAL AND CHAPEL OF SAINT GILES FOUNDED EARLY IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY AND ENDOWED BY SUCCESSIVE NORMAN EARLS OF CHESTER. THEY REMAINED IN CONSTANT USE UNTIL 1645 WHEN DEFENSIVE MEASURES NECESSITATED THE DEMOLITION OF BUILDINGS OUTSIDE THE CITY WALLS. THE CEMETERY REMAINED TO MARK THE SITE AND IN TIME THE LITTLE VILLAGE OF SPITAL CLUSTERED AROUND IT. IN 1644 UNTIL THE ROYALIST DEFENDERS SURRENDERED HERE IT WAS ALSO USED FOR VICTIMS OF THE PLAGUES WHICH RAVAGED THE CITY IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES. BEING EXTRA PAROCHIAL THE SITE WAS GRANTED TO THE CORPORATION BY CHARLES II IN 1685 AS A BURIAL GROUND AND, THOUGH FOR A PERIOD IN THE CHARGE OF ST.JOHN'S PARISH, IT REMAINS IN THEIR HANDS. WHEN THE PROTESTANT MARTYR GEORGE MARSH WAS BURNED AT THE STAKE ON GALLOWS HILL CLOSE BY HIS ASHES WERE COLLECTED BY HIS FRIENDS AND BURIED HERE. THE LAST BURIAL TOOK PLACE IN 1854".
The rear of the tablet (which can only be seen from inside the cemetery) is inscribed "I H S : MANY UNKNOWN ARE BURIED HERE NOTABLY THE LEPERS FROM THE 12TH CENTURY TO 1643, SOLDIERS WHO FELL IN THE BATTLE OF GREAT BOUGHTON 1644 AND NUMEROUS VICTIMS OF THE PLAGUE".
The cemetery wall encloses a cemetery containing a number of damaged table tombs, mostly C19 in date.
Parish Churches
Each of the original parish churches of Chester had its own churchyard or burial ground. Some of these survived until the time when detailed enough maps became available to show them. The only ones which remain (in part) are those of Holy Trinity, St Mary on the Hill and the second St Bridget.
- St Michael's burial ground: this small churchyard, first mentioned in the 1480s, was closed in 1854.
- St Martin's burial ground: a churchyard existed by 1662 and a monument formerly in the church recorded a burial there in 1644. The churchyard was closed in 1855. The church and church yard were removed in 1964 during the construction of the Inner Ring Road.
- Holy Trinity burial ground: a churchyard existed by 1554, and an additional burial ground in Bedward Row on land bought from the corporation was consecrated, complete with chapel, in 1810. Both were closed in 1855, and the Bedward Row cemetery was sold to the city corporation in 1886 and afterwards in part built over. Hemingway wrote of it: "The burying place adjoining to the church having been exceedingly crowded with bodies and inadequate to the use of the parish a fresh piece of ground north of the Linen hall and east of the city gaol was purchased in 1809 and consecrated September 22nd 1810 the total expense including the chapel railing &c was about £1000."
- St Mary on the Hill: by 1328 St. Mary's possessed a graveyard, perhaps originally for the burial of prisoners from the castle. Often these are said to be buried in the Castle ditch, however an entry in the parish records reads: "1656 - 'Three witches hanged at Michaelmas Assizes, buried in the corner by the Castle Ditch in the churchyard 8th of October'". See Witch Trials for more on this.
- St Bridget: burials were taking place in the church by the early 16th century. A graveyard to the north-east was replaced in 1785 by one to the south of the church, enlarged in 1790. It was closed in 1829 and replaced by a new graveyard beside the new church. That in turn was closed in 1877. Church was demolished in 1891 and the site is now covered in part by Chester Magistrates courts, a traffic roundabout and roadways. Very few grave markers are still visible, one being on the roundabout and some on the grass bordering the courts. The one on the roundabout is that of Thomas Gould, it is shaped as a casket and inscribed: IN MEMORY OF THOMAS GOULD LATE OF THE 52ND REGT. OF FOOT LI. DIED IN NOVEMBER 1865 AGED 72 YEARS 46 OF WHICH WERE SPENT IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY. HE WAS PRESENT IN THE FOLLOWING ENGAGEMENTS. VIMERA, CORUNA, CROSSING THE GOE NEAR ALMEIDA, BSACO, PUMBAL, REDINHA, CONDEIXA, FOZ D'AVOCA, SARUGAL, FUENTES DONOLE, STORMING OF CUIDAD RODRIGO AND RADASOS SALMANCA, SAN MUNOS (fallen prisoner), ST MILAN, VITTORIA, PYRENEES, STORMING OF THE FRENCH ESTABLISHMENT OF VERA (wounded), NIVELLE, PASSAGE OF THE NEVE ORTHES, TARBES, TOULOUSE AND WATERLOO. HE RECEIVED THE PENINSULA MEDAL WITH 13 CLASPS AND THE WATERLOO MEDAL. THE STONE IS PLACED OVER HIM BY A FEW FRIENDS. According to the Chester Chronicle of Dec 1865, he slipped on the steps of the "Eagle" in Castle Street on Oct 30th, and three days later (Nov 2nd) died in Military House, which was then a hospital also in Castle Street.
- St Olave: the churchyard, which existed by the 17th century, was closed for burials in 1851.
- St Peter: the insalubrious churchyard, abutted by three alehouses, was paved in 1657–8.

At Plemstall, the possibly ancient church of St Peter contains a remarkable "chest tomb" in the graveyard, above the large Hurleston family vault. The most striking features of the tomb are the recumbent skeletons on the long south- and north-facing sides of the tomb-chest. These are outside the east window of the church, and thus close to the church’s high altar in a prominent position for a tomb of a local landed family. There is even an entrance to the vault behind the altar.
Independents and Others
From the sixteenth century, "dissenters" from the Church of England – for example, Quakers, Baptists and Independents or Congregationalists – began to seek alternatives to burial in a Church of England or Church in Wales churchyard. These denominations often founded their own burial grounds, around or near to their chapels. There were several examples in Chester.
- Baptist Chapel: on the corner of Pepper Street and Volunteer Street: nothing of this remains and it lay under what is now the entrance to the Pepper Street car-park. There are no known records of when it was closed or what happened to any remains.
- Quaker Meeting House: Frodsham Street: this was originally set back from the street and the space in front of it was occupied by a graveyard. When death watch beetle was found in one of the principal roof timbers in 1964, Friends decided to demolish the meeting house and sell the site for re-development which would include a new meeting house. When the present meeting house was built in the 1970s the human remains were exhumed and moved to the city cemetery.
- Trinity Street: the chapel of Matthew Henry was built in 1700. By the late nineteenth century, this was associated with two burial grounds, one on the west, between the chapel and the street, the other on the south (Ordnance Survey 1872). The date at which these were established, and how long they were in use, and the number of burials within each is not known, though documentary research could shed important light on these questions. The building was pulled down in the 1960s to build the Forum Shopping Centre. In 2015 Oxford Archaeology (OA) North was commissioned by Chester West and Chester Council to carry out a programme of evaluation trenching as part of the Northgate development. Several intact burials were seen in two trenches, within a layer of organic soil, which in one trench yielded a small assemblage of dissarticulated human bone. As the archaeologists concluded: "The evaluation has also made plain that the western burial ground was not cleared of human remains when the site was redeveloped in the 1960s, but was simply built over, the boundary walls perhaps having first been ripped out. It seems possible that the cemetery itself was left largely intact (perhaps to avoid perceived complications arising from its clearance?), whilst the surrounding area was stripped to bedrock and consolidated with compacted, crushed sandstone. Whether the burial ground on the south side of the chapel suffered a similar fate is not known, though the presence of an underpass immediately to the south makes destruction likely. Later, the western cemetery was disturbed by the insertion of piles when the hotel was extended over Trinity Street, although this may not have been appreciated at the time." A metallic name plate was found on the upper torso of one set of remains and, while largely obscured by corrosion, it identified the individual as one James Haleway. The date of his death was also heavily obscured, but may have been the year 1824.
- St John Street: the earlier version of the Wesleyan Chapel in St John Street had its entrance at the western end facing the City Walls. There were a few burials here and these are marked by a stone bearing the words "Wesleyan Chapel" which once decorated the western end of the chapel facing St John Street and was relocated when the frontage of the church was rebuilt in 1906. Three eroded C19 gravestones are fixed to the City Walls here. During repairs to the nearby steps up to the walls in 2008, the workforce accidentally broke through the roof of a previously unknown underground crypt which has since led to the discovery of two further crypts behind the church building.
Castle and Gaol
- City Gaol: at times the punishment for murder included post-mortem public dissection (see: Execution at Chester for more gory detail) and the scant remains of murderers were seldom buried. After 1834, the bodies of all criminals executed were buried within the precincts of the prison in which they were last confined (presumably in most cases Chester Castle), in unmarked graves whose locations were recorded. Prior to 1834 the bodies of those executed for crimes other than murder could be claimed by relatives and friends for burial in consecrated land - unless they had been "hung in chains" from a gibbet. It seems some bodies ended-up at St Martins, others at St Mary on the Hill.
- Chester Castle: it is known that the castle had access to some form of burial ground, but where this was remains something of a mystery. The traditional version has prisoners being "buried in the castle ditch", but there is little actual evidence for this. City guides and guidebooks will sometimes state that some of those condemned at the Chester Witch Trials were buried in the castle ditch, but the parish records of St Mary on the Hill record only that they were buried in the churchyard near to the ditch: "1656 - 'Three witches hanged at Michaelmas Assizes, buried in the corner by the Castle Ditch in the churchyard 8th of October'".
- Canalside: within living memory a part of the towpath near the Dee Basin at the "Old Port" was flagged with grave slabs. Very little information is available but these appear to have been connected with people working canal boats. The area was redeveloped in the early 1990's and nothing remains.
Exploring the History
Churches, Chapels, Graveyards and Burial Grounds
Any tour of Chester's graveyards must include Overleigh Cemetery, but if one were making a day of it a trail around burial places might well start at St Johns. The paths outside the original cathedral are flagged with grave-slabs including those of an "Iron Master" and an "Ostrich Feather Manufacturer": while within, there are some remarkable funerary monuments. Do not miss the "coffin in the wall". From there, the east entrance to the Amphitheatre may have been at one time a crypt and one can pass on through Newgate and past the former, quite unmarked, site of the Baptist chapel graveyard on the corner of Pepper Street and Volunteer Street. St Michael is now the tourist attraction "sick to death". A short walk down Grosvenor Street passes the Grosvenor Museum with its collection of Roman gravestones and leads to the grave of Tom Gould in the middle of a roundabout. Nearby is the floriate grave slab from the priory of St Mary. Passing over the Grosvenor Bridge one arrives at Overleigh.
Geology
Graveyards are great places to study geology, except that collecting specimens with a hammer is generally frowned upon. Because of the difficulties involved in transporting stone over long distances, older churchyards and burial grounds tend to contain local stone gravestones dating from the seventeenth century or earlier, often dug from quarries just a few kilometres away. Victorian cemeteries, developed at a time when the canal and rail networks were expanding contain stone from further afield. At first British stone was used but sources became, in some cases, increasingly exotic.
Sandstone is the native rock in much of Cheshire and while it cannot be polished to a shine it is easy to inscribe. Unfortunately it has a tendency to split along its bedding planes which can erode lettering. The most local stone to Chester is in general poorly cemented and so not preffered for durable headstones. However there are outcrops nearby which can be sculpted.
Limestones, including "Purbeck marble" are also easy to carve but sensitive to acid rain. Portland stone, a limestone from from Dorset, was chosen by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for use in its war graves because continual erosion from the surface due to weathering reveals fresh surface so the stone tends to retain its pale colour as it weathers and is thus easy to maintain.
Marble to a stonemason is any limestone which can take a polish and Carrara marble became popular is Victorian times. It is also sensitive to acid rain. Many graves have lead lettering which would originally have been flush with the surface, but acid rain now means that the letters stand proud of the surface.
Slate takes an insciption well, but is difficult to carve into intricate shapes.
Granite did not come into widespread use for gravestones until the second half of the nineteenth century when the technology for working granite was developed and when the rail network expanded.
Sources & Links
One ongoing channel of information on this subject is the "ARCHAEOdeath" blog of Prof Howard Williams. See for example: "10 deathly things I liked most about the ‘Dead Normal’ exhibition".
Related Pages
Online
- Burials in Churches:
- Based in Churton;
- OVERCHURCH AND ITS RUNIC STONE;
- More on Overchurch;
- Haplography in the runic inscription on the Overchurch stone;
- THE ENGLISH ARRIVAL IN CHESHIRE: by J. MCN. DODGSON (1067);
- Aerial Investigation: finds some old and new burial mounds near Chester;
- Sex, Sin and Skeletons on a Tomb-Chest at Plemstall, Cheshire;