Grant to explore history of Ballast Hills
A funding award will see the history revealed of a Tyne riverside burial site where thousands from Newcastle's past are buried. Tony Henderson reports
Beneath a barely-noticed grassy city space overlooking the Tyne, an estimated 40,000 people lie buried.
Now a funding grant will see the coming year devoted to revealing the stories behind the Ballast Hills burial site on the edge of the Ouseburn Valley between Albion Street and Ford Street in Newcastle.
The hills were formed – like several similar mounds on the along the riverside – by ships dumping their ballast, taken on to ensure stability while not carrying cargo.
The Newcastle Ballast Hills provided space for mainly non-conformist burials from the 1600s until the site closed in 1853. It has been described as the biggest non-conformist burial area outside London.
The Ballast Hills research project involves Dr Shane McCorristine in Newcastle University’s School of History, Classics and Archaeology and principal investigator Dr Myra Giesen, from the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences.
This year’s research is being supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council
“Most people don’t know the site is a burial ground and we want to understand over this year its national, regional and cultural importance as a non conformist site,” said Dr Gieson.
“We are trying to bring to life the stories about the people who are buried there, raise awareness about it, and the extent of the site, with evidence suggesting that it was bigger in the past from what is visible today. Road widening in the area in the 1970s uncovered burials.”
In later years it was used for some Church of England burials, and also of people who drowned in the Tyne, cholera victims, sailors who died on their ships or in port, the poor, and still-born babies.
It represents a cross section of the population from the 17th to the 19th centuries and Dr Giesen said: “We are eager to ensure that this historic site reflects the diverse voices and stories of those connected to it. Every story deserves to be remembered, and every voice has a role in shaping history.
“We want to find the answers to some important questions.”
As part of this effort, the project aims to record and understand the site’s gravestones through comprehensive 3D scanning and condition assessments this year.
In 1884 the site was turned into an ornamental garden and from 1930 served as a children’s playground.
A 1903 report provides information from 946 gravestones which were then on the site. Some were laid upright to line the boundary of the site and others used as slabs to create paths which can still be seen today with their inscriptions visible
A summary compiled in 2023 noted the presence of 71 whole gravestones with legible text, 32 half gravestones with partially legible text, 196 whole gravestones without text, and 261 broken gravestones, bringing the total to 660 gravestones.
The team is developing an online register of those buried or memorialised at the site and are keen to hear from anyone with old photographs or other records of the Ballast Hills.
The project seeks to create a space for descendants to share stories, contribute insights, and help shape the ongoing work of the project
A descendants group is being formed of people who have family members buried at the site and the project also wants to contact those who have uncovered evidence from ancestry research or may have documents relating to past internments
If you know your ancestry is connected to Ballast Hills Burial Ground, contact the team at ballast.hills@newcastle.ac.uk. Those interested in volunteering can complete the form here.
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There are also plans to set up a North East Funerary Heritage Group of volunteers who research and care for burial sites.
According to Dr Patrick Low, who has researched the condemned executed at Newcastle Gaol, among those buried at Ballast Hills is Jane Jamieson, the last woman to be hung in Newcastle for the murder of her mother in 1829.
While examining a collection of papers of bookseller John Bell held by Newcastle University, who lived in the town at the time of Jane Jamieson, Dr Low came across his detailed record of her trial and execution.
A note in the collection states: “Jane Jameson – The Remains of this unfortunate woman were interred in the Ballast Hills Ground, the last of the anatomical demonstrations having been concluded on the preceding day.”
Another interred individual was poet Robert Gilchrist, who died in 1844. A local celebrity in the mid-19th-century Newcastle, he was known for his poetic compositions and lively performances of comic songs.
Lecturer Dr Paul Gilchrist has researched the history of his ancestor.
Gilchrist had connections to Victorian heroine Grace Darling, played a pivotal role in the River Tyne ‘Barge Day’ processions, contributed to the development of cricket in Northumberland, and also influenced the shaping of Grainger Town and the redevelopment of Newcastle.