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Harborne Cemetery of Birmingham, England
By Andrea Barnes, October 3, 2000
I would first like to point out that I am not singling Harborne cemetery
out as the only culprit. I am sure that there are much worse examples
of vandalism and "cemetery clearance". But as I have an interest in the
history of Harborne and my relatives are buried there, I am making it
the focus of my campaign.
Harborne is an ancient parish, mentoned in the Domesday Book in 1086.
The church as we know it today was rebuilt in 1867, but the tower dates
from the fifteenth century. Although, now part of Birmingham, Harborne
was part of rural Staffordshire until 1891. It still retains it's village
atmosphere.
I moved away from Birmingham ten years ago. I recently visited Harborne
cemetery to find the grave of my great grandparents (buried there in 1934
and 1954). Although my mother went to the spot that she remembered visiting
in her youth, we could not locate the grave. We did, however, notice that
the graveyard had been subjected to vandalism and actually witnessed the
Sunday afternoon revellers, returning from the pub, kicking the gravestones
and throwing cans and bottles. On closer inspection, we noticed a discarded
mattress, several bags of rubbish and syringes. We also noticed that the
surrounding houses seemed to have been built very close and that the old
path was overgrown.
I wrote to the vicar and asked him if he knew what had happened to the
grave of my relatives. He replied that only the end piece of the grave
was visible and that some of the stone had been removed in the "partial
clearance" of he 1960's(my great grandmother had only been buried in 1954)
or subjected to vandalism or both. He suggested that I could replace the
headstone. I then noticed some correspondence between Michael Bruff and
Karen Palmer on the Warwickshire message board. They were discussing the
state of Harborne Cemetery. Michael informed me that the "partial clearance"
had provided space for the church car park. I wrote to them with my experiences
and decided that we should start some campaign to stop this destruction
of our heritage.
I do not want to single out Harborne as the only culprit. When the church
agreed to bury these people, surely they had a moral obligation to let
them rest in peace. Especially in the inner cities, we have many examples
of fine old churchyards that are being destroyed by vandalism, pollution
and the church. The people collating memorial inscriptions have a race
against time. Soon we will have lost an important part of our heritage
and no one seems to be responsible.
I am awaiting a reply to my letter to the vicar of harborne. I have received
an overwhelming amount of letters of support already. Our campaign is
gaining momentum. Will any one with relatives buried in Harborne cemetery,
or who have an interest in preserving the old victorian graveyards of
Birmingham, please support us in our efforts to stop the destruction of
the graves by vandalism and church "clearance"? You can e-mail me at andrea.barnes@tesco.net
- Andrea Barnes
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