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A walk round St Marys churchyard in the Lace Market is well worth the trouble if you're ever round that way...You'll probably be standing on the very first part of Nottingham that man turned into a fortress home.Take away the buildings in your minds eye and you will realise how safe a site it must have been on top of the high sandstone cliffs overlooking the swampy meadows of the Trent Valley.

The present Church is probably the third built on the same site and foundations of a Norman church were unearthed by archeologists in Victorian times along with many Saxon pot finds taking the historical use of the site back hundreds of years earlier.

Strange then that there have never been any positive Roman finds in the city.We know they had forts,stations and settlements just a few miles away on the other side of the Trent at East Bridgeford and the Fosse.

And yet the Castle Rock,cliffs,and hills of Nottingham which must have stood out on the horizon and been inhabited by ancient Britons, were more or less ignored by Rome for hundreds of years.

Going back to the churchyard and some of it's 'tenants' On the north side of the churchyard are the graves of George
Africanus and his wife Esther and that of George Africanus junior their 14
year-old son. Nottingham’s first black citizen, George Africanus came
as a child from Sierra Leone, was brought up by Benjamin Molyneux in Wolverhampton,
baptised, educated, trained as a brassfounder, married into a Nottingham family,
became a burgess with full voting rights, prospered, bought his house and lived
in Nottingham from about 1784 until his death at the age of about 71 in 1834.
The gravestone of George and his wife Esther was probably erected by their
only surviving daughter Hannah and read:


In memory of George Africanus who died May 19th 1834
aged 70 years Also Ester Africanus, wife of the above Who died May
12th 1853 Aged 81 years

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O cruel death that separated here

A loving father from his daughter dear

Also a tender parent in decline of life

A loving mother and a careful wife

While in this world they did remain

Their latter Days were full of pain.


The sandstone gravestone of George senior was heavily weathered and became
impossible to read. A new slate memorial with the freshly engraved inscription
was inserted into it for the Bicentenary of the 1807 abolition of slavery.

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The last time I visited it was closed and the gates chained up, I think there was a notice saying that it was open on certain days unless it was just temp. St Nicks was also disapointing with windows covered in metal plate and everywhere strewn with litter. Not a very good advertisment for visitors to the old city. It would appear that nothing is sacred!.

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Churchyards (And rivers and streams) full of litter...and yet we've got prisons full of low category prisoners. And hundreds of thousands of yobbos in need of discipline and giving something back to society,sat on their backsides....Bloody ridiculous!!

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Back in the late 90s it was still possible to walk through St Mary's churchyard from Stoney Street to the steps on St Mary's Gate. I can understand why they might close the church itself, but I would've thought the grounds would be ok.

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There was a burial ground in Broad Marsh (consecrated 1830, closed 1856), part of the former parish properties there. Deeds, plans and correspondence are with the Parish Papers. It was sold in 1965 under the provisions of the Broad Marsh Burial Ground Act 1960 and the remains removed to a marked site in Wilford Hill Cemetery.

Does anyone know anymore about this

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Here's an alternative possibility.

Digging around I found this...... In 1831, a new burial ground containing 16,000 square yards, near the Workhouse in the Broad Marsh, was opened for the use of St. Peter's parish

The burial ground is also described as being on the south side of Broad Marsh (the road, not the area). And there's a reference to The Old General who was buried in St Peter’s Churchyard, Broad Marsh burial ground.

This map shows all of those features, with several possibilities for where the burial ground might be. St Peter's Church school is arrowed; I believe that was the former Workhouse building, and it seems to have shared a churchyard area with the Methodist chapel whose entrance was on Canaan Street.

bury.jpg

And this is the school building from the street

marsh-3.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

Not about that one...but most of the remains in the three St Marys' overflow cemeteries around Barker Gate were also moved to Wilford Hill in the thirties when the Ice stadium was built.

Two of them here...

12122144554.jpg

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Hi can you tell me what map this is from please? Am looking for 1880ish Walker Street Sneinton - fine details of the yards and squares that were tucked into the street.

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Hi I saw your wonderfully detailed map above and would like to buy/ look at one similar showing Walker Street Sneinton. I am particularly interested in knowing the exact location of the yards and squares that were in Walker St about 1880 onwards. Any help most appreciated.

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These maps are from this site...

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html

It will take you a while to learn the ropes but well worth it. You don't need to sign in or register. Press Gazeteer and follow the location to N for Nottingham then S for Sneinton this will show you a modern map...click on the area you're interested in and you then have a choice of maps on the right.

1zlsys3.jpg

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