Unfortunately, we cannot complete this project.
If anyone wishes carry on with it, please
let me know.
About St. Ann's Valley
and the project to record the names
of the persons buried there
Where and why was it built
On the north side of the cemetery, accessed now by a steep
descending pathway, is a large 'depression' or 'dip' known as St.
Ann's Valley. It was originally meant to be an exclusive and very
impressive place of burial. Great archways were built into
the surrounding sandstone wall, giving it a strange air of grandeur.
The Entrance and Caves
It is believed that the original entrance to this area was a
tunnel, cut through the sandstone rock. Unfortunately it is now
blocked off, but it is still possible to see straight through.
Branching off the main tunnel is another passage which leads to
some three or four chambers which were built as catacombs, but
never used.
Pauper's Graves
In fact, none of St. Ann's Valley was ever used for the purpose
it was intended. For some unknown reason, it was not as popular
with the gentry as was expected. However, the authorities were
increasingly faced with the task of finding burial space for a
great number of poor Nottingham folk, so it was decided to use a
portion of St. Ann's Valley for pauper's graves. Sometimes as
many as thirty babies or seven adults were buried together.
Inscriptions
Just their names, ages, and the year of burial, were roughly
etched into large stones which were placed flat on the
ground over each grave. Unfortunately, a lot of the inscriptions
have worn away partly through natural erosion but also because of people walking on
them. Many stones, though, are almost completely covered with
turf and dirt.
The Project
A small group of us decided to make a start of trying to
transcribe these inscriptions before it was too late. However, we
found that it would be too large a task for us to try to clean
all of every stone, apart from that, it became obvious that we
would probably do more harm than good! To a certain extent, the
turf is protecting the inscriptions. Surprisingly, the inscriptions are much
clearer underneath the grass, and we took great care to remove and replace small
sections of it.
The Method Used
In the end, we drew a plan of St. Ann's Valley splitting the area
of pauper's graves into three sections and marking the position
of each stone in each section. Then we proceeded to carefully
clean just enough of each stone to be able to take down one or
two legible inscriptions and the year. At the Nottinghamshire
Archives we looked up the grave numbers of the people we had
found and this led us to a complete list of everyone in that
grave, plus their full names and the actual dates of the burials. We also noted the
interment number of each individual, so more information can be
acquired from the relevant records at the Archives. I know that
this is not the regular way of preserving inscriptions, but these
stones tell practically nothing about the persons interred, but at
least our way may help someone to find the grave of a family
member.
Index to St Ann's Valley Pages
Information and History of Nottingham Cemeteries and Burial Grounds