Building Homes on an Old Graveyard

I just ran across an article and a follow-up letter out of the LynnNews, a Norfolk, UK publication. The article relates to the intent to build homes on an old Methodist graveyard. When I was 12, I saw the movie Poltergeist in the theater. If I learned one this from that movie, it was that you never ever build homes on old graves. Now, poltergeists may not be real, but I will still stand by the idea that building on old graves is in bad taste.  Following are abstracts and links to the article and letter:

Homes to be built on a Methwold graveyard

Published on Friday 30 December 2011 14:30

PLANS to build on an old graveyard look set to be approved despite objections from relatives.

West Norfolk planning committee is recommended to approve the plan at Methwold Methodist Church, which will see the conversion of the redundant Sunday school and chapel into two homes, when it meets on Monday.

One objector said: “Many of my family are buried there including the sisters of my grandfather and the last burial was in 1927.

Click here to read the full article.

Will vital family history be lost?

Published on Sunday 15 January 2012 14:38

I WAS most dismayed to read the article about homes being built on Methwold Methodist graveyard, although I was in total ignorance of this matter until a link to your article was posted on a family history site on the web.

Family members who live not far away (Hockwold) were unaware of this, maybe because it appeared in the business section on December 30.

I also notice that West Norfolk planning department was “pushing” planning permission through at the beginning of New Year!

Click here to read the full letter.

As a family historian I am greatly disturbed by the idea of building over graves and probably destroying old headstones and the related family histories. I am also concerned for the families who may potential lose a connection with their past, not to mention the emotional ties they may have with this disturbance of their ancestors’ graves. Building on old cemeteries is not a new story, nor is this likely to be the last time this happens. Individuals need to keep watch for these troubling events and make others aware in time to take action.

4 Replies to “Building Homes on an Old Graveyard”

  1. I agree with your not building homes on old gravesites but with a more accurate reasoning. I lived in a home that I feel must have been on an old gravesite, perhaps an Indian gravesite, and believe me that house was haunted. For 3 1/2 years I hardly slept because of the sounds of chains, footsteps, breathing when I turned out the lights and strange events. I’m not crazy but at the time running not one but 3 successful business so I was a realistic.

    Later I was at a football super bowl party and found our hostess would not go upstairs to get some paper plates because there was somethere there that did not like her. They had build on the same person’s parcel of land that the house that I had lived in.

    Later, the house I lived in was finished (upstairs had never been finished by the original owner who rented the house to us, and made into apartments. The boyfriend of one of the tenants strangled a child of his girlfriend and didn’t have a reason. I did. There were good spirits and bad in that building and believe me, you could tell the difference

  2. My husband’s third great grandparents are buried in the Mitchell Cemetery at Walnut, Mississippi which was completely destroyed in the 1930s. The stones were thought to be strewn about the property and some were known to have been used in construction of the home that was built over the cemetery. What a sad commentary on our society as a whole to let cemetery destruction go on. You can read more about the Mitchell cemetery under “Projects” at this website http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mstippah/Towns/HisWalnut.html

  3. Seems as thou that if someone has paid for their burial site, no one should be able to take it away. This would be considered PRIVATE property! This is VERY distrubing!! When local reservoirs were built, all the graves had to be moved to other cemeteries. The families were paid for the removal and for a new burial site.

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