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and was finally closed on December 31st, 1876. Since that time a
few burials have taken place, by special permission, in private graves>
that were not filled. The last interment was that of John Stroud,
who died on May 28th, 1882.
The cemetery, which was never consecrated, is 12£ acres in extent*
A small portion of the land near Salisbury place was originally used as
a brickfield, but the remainder Was a market garden.
The soil is very good—dry gravel; but when first used the graves
could not be sunk more than ten feet without coming to water*
Subsequently to the construction of the main sewer the depth of the
graves was increased to 18 feet without reaching water.
The ground is very full indeed. Most of the roads and gravel paths
have been changed in direction, and the subjacent soil utilised for
burial purposes. Even the foundations of a chapel have been removed
for the same purpose. It seems this chapel was to have been consecrated,
but owing to some misunderstanding this was never done.
The large majority of the bodies are in common wooden coffins;
some are oak, and there are a few (about 20) leaden ones.
The common interments were conducted upon the plan known as
" pit burial," that is to say—a hole is dug about 18 feet deep ; this is
filled with coffins, one on top of another, till it is full. An ordinary
grave would hold about ten full-sized coffins, or as many as 50
children.
Before the ground was closed it was visited by the Sanitary Com'
mittee, and many of the graves were examined by means of the
searcher. No coffin was found to be less than three feet from the
surface, but they are said to lie very close to one another—almost
touching.
The Burial Acts require that no coffin shall be less than four feet
from the surface unless it is a lead coffin, and also that there must be
one foot of earth all round, separating that grave from contiguous
ones. I feel sure this has been disregarded in the Victoria Park
Cemetery.
An enormous number of bodies have been buried here. The
average number of funerals was over 30 per diem the whole year
round. During the Cholera epidemic in 1866 as many as 80 have
been buried in one day. It is stated upon good authority that over
half-a-million of bodies lie buried within the walls of this cemetery,
o