By the late 18th century both of Hull’s then parish churches had had to have plots of land outside the then built-up areas consecrated for burials as the problems related to burials in their adjacent churchyards had become all but intolerable. The detached burial ground for Holy Trinity church was beside Castle Street (see recent blogs), that of St. Mary, Lowgate was north of North Walls in an area known as Trippett (a remnant of this detached burial ground remains immediately north of Freetown Way its last formal use being that of a garden beside the then Hull Registry Office).
Another alternative to detached burial grounds became a topic for national discussion in the second quarter of the 19th century. Joint-stock burial grounds were established near a number of cities in the 1830s on a model pioneered on the Continent, the sites being laid-out as places of resort. Such locations were often known as necropoli and were funded by a company created for the purpose financed by sale of shares to generally local people. In 1846/47 Hull got its first private enterprise cemetery, somewhat later than most other towns of comparable size, and henceforth known as Hull General Cemetery. Its linear east-west site was immediately north of what is now Spring Bank West, then beyond the built-up area of the town.
Under the heading ‘The Genesis of the Hull General Cemetery’ Peter Lowden published a series of five articles in the twice-yearly Newsletter of Hull Civic Society. In parts 1 and 2 (Hull Civic Soc. Newsletters June 2016 and June 2017) the author traced the mounting pressure for Hull to have a private cemetery, mostly from evidence in local newspapers of the time. The third article (Civic Soc. Newsletter, October 2017) dealt with the company’s preparations for the site, while articles 4 and 5 (Newsletter March 2018 and May 2018) dealt with the final creation of the site. The Cemetery survives, the active Friends of Hull General Cemetery may be contacted by email fohgc@outlook.com or by their facebook site.
The picture above is copied from the first article and was given the caption ‘The Spring Ditch with the Cemetery gates in 1846’. The lodge-house and gates no longer exist, When Chanterlands Av. was created/widened a new entrance was built off Spring Bank West (survives).