Wardsend Cemetery

For this entry we explored Wardsend Cemetery in Sheffield, a burial ground dating back to the 1850s and said to contain over 20,000 bodies.

Abandoned in the 1970s, it was created as an extension to another local cemetery in 1859.

Its first internment and 'guardian of the cemetery' was a 2 year old girl named Ann Marie Marsden, and since then it has built an incredible story. It has been the site of riots due to unburied bodies and was infamous in its early years due to rumours that several coffins were found to contain scratch marks, indicating that many people may have been buried alive.

Upon arrival we were left literally speechless; the incredible spectacle of hundreds of dilapidated graves, covered in all variety of plants and climbing up the hillside is a once in a life time experience.

The headstones, many of which trees had grown clean through with others entirely buried, were spectacular.

The whole place had an eerie air about it, the silence was overwhelming with the blood red sky adding to the sinister aura.

As night fell we wisely departed, having experienced one of the most unique spaces we had ever come across.