The project

Abney Unearthed was developed to re-map the cemetery and to research the life-stories of some of the almost 200,000 people interred at Abney Park.

The project posed a challenge as the 108 original plot maps held by Abney Park Trust were not always legible, the common graves were often unmapped, some areas were not accurately recorded with four sections not mapped at all. An unknown number of burial records were missing, including those from 1903, 1934, 1935, and the records from 1970 – 1974 were damaged by water in the mid 1970s. Abney Unearthed is in the process of rectifying this by adding further information to a digital map of the whole cemetery.

Abney Unearthed has been included in the NLHF funded Abney Park restoration project recently awarded to Hackney Council. This will allow the Abney Unearthed project to continue for a further two years.

The volunteer-based project has now successfully run for almost three years. Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (now NLHF) and Hackney Council in 2017 allowed the project to run for two years, and Hackney Council has generously funded the project from March to August this year.

At the end of 2019 the first phase was given a successful rating by the NLHF after providing informative tours and displays, also adding information to the database and maps to create a searchable online map. (Please note - the map is currently inoperative due to the recent cyber attack faced by Hackney Council. This is the process of being rectified.)

Abney Unearthed achievements

Volunteers on site work grave by grave to check the location of the plot number is correct, add any missing details to the maps and also check the existing burial records against the details on the headstones, adding any missing information.

The details of 45,208 of the 200,082 names on the database have been checked and the type of headstone has been added to the records. 1747 of these records have had some details such age, the spelling of the name or the map section corrected. Abney Unearthed have noted the headstones of 700 people in common graves and have mapped the grave numbers approximately 60 common graves.

842 missing burial records have been added, including 241 people buried in the 1970s, this is particularly important as the burial records between 1970 – 1974 were damaged by water and are missing from the database, with some graves being unmapped.

The information gathered by Abney Unearthed volunteers has enabled five successful grave searches in formerly unmapped areas and eight grave searches for those in common graves.

If the area is one that the Abney Unearthed project has covered, we are now able to say if there is a headstone or not without searching the area when people request a grave search.

Abney Unearthed discoveries

Unearthed Stories - Discoveries from the Abney Unearthed team

Featured

Esther Felsted and L. M. Mountague

Esther Felsted was the faithful servant for Letitia Mountague for 32 years, Letitia was the Keeper of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground for 10 years.

William Bithray

William Bithray was the maker and seller of optical and scientific instruments; apprenticed to his uncle Stephen Bithray. He later worked with Thomas Rubergall, on whose death he took over the business in partnership with Thomas Steane. A large headstone is placed on the common grave where William Bithray is buried.

Abney Unearthed project update - November 2023

The volunteer-based Abney Unearthed project has now successfully run for almost five years. Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (now NLHF) and Hackney Council allowed volunteer work to begin on site in Jan 2017. The project is now a part of the activity plan being delivered as a part of the NLHF-funded restoration project. Read further to learn about the accomplishments made by the project.

Charles Walker Norwood

Charles Walker Norwood lived in, and ran his business from, Hoxton. A master Painter Stainer, wallpaper manufacturer, painter and decorator; he was also an exhibitor at the Great Exhibition in Crystal Palace in 1851. Located on one point of a triangular section in a northern area of Abney Park Cemetery, this unusual monument is a 6-sided pillar of red granite with a black granite base & coping, capped with a draped beehive.

John 'Jack' Knifton

A man of many talents, John ‘Jack’ Knifton was a Life Guardsman, a cow-keeper, a licensed victualler, bailiff, antique dealer, boxer, church warden, mason, Radical, self-taught lawyer, philanthropist & family man. He was a well-known local figure, renowned for his philanthropy and his boxing skills. John ‘Jack’ was reported to be the first heavyweight boxing champion of England with the nickname ‘The 81-Tonner’

William and Stephen Stiles

This large red granite pedestal often gains attention due to the spiked wheels that adorn the railings of the plinth. The monument stands over a double vault. Two generations of the Stiles family of Shoreditch and Hackney are buried in this grave, three siblings: William Stiles, Elizabeth Stiles & Stephen Stiles. William was a stone merchant and Stephen was a successful builder. They were both noted philanthropists.

Elizabeth Mounsey

Elizabeth Mounsey was a renowned and accomplished church organist and composer. At a young age, she secured the position of organist at St Peter’s Cornhill in the City of London, from 1834 until 1882. In September 1840, Felix Mendelssohn visited St Peter’s and he played several pieces for Elizabeth. She was listed in the London Trades’ Directory of 1856, under the category head of ‘Teachers of Music’.

Alice Zimmern - advocate for women's education and suffrage

Alice Zimmern was a pioneer educationist and writer of numerous books, and a suffragist with a strong interest in the rights and education of women. After graduating with honours in 1885, she became a teacher of classics and English at several girls’ schools. After the turn of the century, she increasingly turned her attention to the suffrage issue and women’s rights.

Memorial dog discovered by the Abney Unearthed project

At the end of 2021 Abney Unearthed volunteers were delighted to discover that Abney Park Cemetery has its own grave-side dog monument. Volunteers were working on a section near the boundary wall on the east side of the site. The stone dog discovered is one of several interesting finds in this section. The following article discusses some of the discoveries made in this area and illuminates some of these questions.

Edwin William Alabone, MD

Edwin William Alabone M.D was a Chest specialist, practising in Hackney and Islington. He was also 'a pioneer in the treatment of tuberculosis' who was at the centre of professional controversy. The treatment of tuberculosis was the basis of his life's work as a medical practitioner and this is recorded on his Abney Park family grave.

We have identified many soldiers who fell elsewhere commemorated on family headstones and come across a number of unusual and surprising headstones and epitaphs.

Further revelations include:

Elizabeth Elliot Scott, d. 1876. Manager of London Waverley Temperance Hotel for nearly quarter of a century. Thomas Cook, founder of Thomas Cook and Son, innovative travel agents, stayed at the Waverley in 1855. The owner Robert Cranston worked for the rights of the working classes.

John James Homer, d. 1888. His epitaph reads "erected in affectionate memory by a few colleagues of the Licensed Victuallers Protection Society of London for which he was the honorary treasurer for upwards of 50 years."

The Seamers family, three of whom were removed from Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, Islington, in 1856 and re-interred in Abney Park.

Thomas William Robertson, d. 1871, noted on his headstone as a "Dramatic Author".

George Charles Perrett, of Great Russell Street, d. 1899. For 33 years surveyor to the Vestry of Shoreditch.

William Cuff, d. 1926, pastor of the Shoreditch Tabernacle and President of the Baptist Union.

The Alesbury’s, who lost 3 adults and 4 children in the Princess Alice disaster on the Thames near Woolwich in the incident where 640 people lost their lives.

What next

Abney Unearthed will continue to add information to the burial records and research those buried in Abney Park. By producing displays, giving tours and engaging with local archives and museums Abney Unearthed will continue to inform, engage and educate people about the history of Abney Park and the social history of not only Stoke Newington's local community, but also those further afield.

If you would like to be involved in the project please email volunteering@abneypark.org

ABNEY UNEARTHED