Late March and an early morning stroll in the cemetery. It’s amazing what difference a few weeks make in terms of bird song. Just from the bridge I was greeted by Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Blackbird and Wren, while a Grey Wagtail flew underneath. Chiffchaffs added their plaintive two-note song to the morning chorus. No Blackcaps yet though. In the wood, cherry trees are in full blossom, pure white in contrast to the pinks of the ornamental cherries decorating Sheffield streets. Blackthorn, too, is clothed in bridal white. The lime green of the elm flowers, a herald of the new growth to co ..read more

by Sean Ashton Good weather was forecast and the fog that hung in the Loxley Valley would surely burn off quickly. With that in mind an early morning trip to Wardsend Cemetery seemed a very good idea. We heard a Dipper on the river a Livesey Street but the river was swollen after yesterday’s rain. Ten minutes watching the river from the bridge didn’t produce anything else although a Song Thrush was in full voice from a nearby tree. Moving on, the puddles on the path up to White’s tip were full-blown ponds but it was worth the walk to hear Dunnock’s singing from the arching brambles. Headi ..read more

Our bird surveying, facilitated by Don Catchment Rivers Trust, got off to a great start on Monday. We were blessed with good weather after all the rain and there were a few rocks for Dippers and Grey Wagtails to perch on if we were lucky enough. We recorded 16 species including 2 Buzzards, Coal Tit and Greenfinch. We were lucky, too, as an obliging Dipper on the river provided our photographers with a willing subject.  There were no new additions to our species list but, by the end of 2023, this was at 45 species – details below. Not bad for a small urban birding site. In r ..read more

A few words from George Proctor fellow founder of the original Friends of Wardsend Cemetery. Sad news. One of the early pioneers of the Friends Of Wardsend Cemetery passed away in late January after a ten week illness. David Yates, like Peter Quincey and myself, was one of the three committee members of the group for the early years of the 2000s. David was the architect of the original friends website and an active member taking part in cemetery tours, groundwork such as clearing the headstones, bulb planting and general clearance. His contribution cannot be underestimated. Besides being invol ..read more

A report on our Spring Bird Walk by committee member and guide for the morning Sean Ashton Our first organised spring bird walk was a great success with 9 people meeting in the car park at 8am.   At this time of year the local residents were joined by a selection of summer visitors and Chiffchaff and Blackcap could be heard from the car park.  We caught a glimpse of a Dipper from the bridge before setting off into the wooded area of the cemetery where we were treated to a powerful chorus of Wren, Blackbird and Song Thrush.   As well as the usual woodland birds, a ..read more

Here is typical plain gravestone in Wardsend Cemetery (grave H124). It’s noteworthy that four of the five people listed here were born in the 18th century. [image: Hugh Waterhouse] On August 1st 1863 the following brief notice appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph… [image credit: British Newspaper Archive and FindMyPast] In the baptismal records of his children Thomas is described as a silver plater which at that date must refer to Old Sheffield Plate. I don’t know if he had any connection to the silver mill a little way down the river from Wardsend where Sheffield Plate was rolled using w ..read more

The inscriptions from more than 1500 graves in Wardsend Cemetery have been recorded and are stored in our database. They range from a single set of initials to many lines of text, which may include poems or quotes from scripture. The ‘foundation document’ of that database was a transcription carried out by researchers before the current Friends group was formed. they had their own ideas about how to do it which lead to many gravestones being missed, and the smallest ignored, as well as the omission of important information, such as the grave references. We have been catching up ever since. Wh ..read more

By George Proctor A couple of days ago one of our oldest and longest members passed away. Peter Quincey one of the founding members of the group and associated with us from the 1990s passed away in a nursing home. Peter was a man who was very much interested in local history and through this became involved in Wardsend Cemetery when he was asked to lead a tour for the first Sheffield Environment weeks. From that came the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery, a subdivision originally of the late Hillsborough Community Development Trust before becoming a separate group. Peter was a private person who d ..read more

Anne Diver is one of Wardsend’s oldest friends and supporters. Over Christmas we got talking and Anne started telling me about some of her ancestors who are buried in the cemetery. Captivated by her stories I asked if she would write something for our website. So here it is, family history at it’s most interesting, a story handed down which didn’t quite add up, brushes with the great and the not so good, the Robinson/Cartwright connection and a reminder of just how much history rests in our once forgotten cemetery. The Robinsons Mum’s relatives are buried in section K. The first name on the st ..read more

Researched and written by George Proctor Wardsend Cemetery is the last resting place of many military personnel. Soldiers their wives and children account for over four hundred burials in the cemetery. They include Joseph Gilbert Cowley of the 1st West Yorkshire Volunteer Royal Engineers. Joseph was a sergeant with D company based at Somme Barracks on Glossop Road, now the Sheffield University officer training corps. As part of his training Joseph attended Summer training courses and it was during one of these at Chattenden near Chatham in 1893 that he was killed in a shocking accident. Marri ..read more