Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Is Liverpool St John this the same church as St John the Baptist closed in 1898?

Wikipaedia

"From 1767 the land towards the top of the slope had been the town cemetery, and in 1784 a church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist was built in the middle of the cemetery. By 1854 the cemetery was full, and the church was demolished in 1898. Meanwhile the other buildings in the area had been demolished, the industries closed, and St George's Hall had been built, opening in 1854. At the beginning of the 20th century it was decided to landscape the former cemetery. The remains of most of the bodies were removed and buried elsewhere. The site was redeveloped and opened in 1904 as "St John's Ornamental and Memorial Gardens".

What happened to the remains of the bodies?

Yes that's the same St John sometimes churches had longer names and parts were chopped off such as churches called St Mary the Virgin were often called St Mary's. Just searching around I found this discussion. It seems that apart from an earlier removal to St Martin's as part of necessary changes to the perimeter of the graveyard, there were no large scale removals when the gardens were created. Unless you can find anything to the contrary.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=435517.0


Blue

The last time I was at Liverpool Record Office I sat having my lunch at the back of St George's Hall in the Gardens, nice to think I may have been sitting just where my g.g.g. was buried.

There's no need really for removals when a former graveyard or cemetery is landscaped. The land isn't being built on. The idea of landscaping is about trying to improve the general appearance above ground especially where sites are considered eyesores and are situated in fashionable parts of cities or towns.


Blue

Blue70 wrote:There's no need really for removals when a former graveyard or cemetery is landscaped. The land isn't being built on.

I believe this happened the same in many graveyards, one in particular being the Necropolis which many brides from Brougham Terrace may have been unaware when having their wedding photographs taken in Grant Gardens.