Pauper burials Shock research reveals 84 bodies packed into a single plot

Visit one of Bristol's older cemeteries and you see neat rows of gravestones and some elaborate monuments to its wealthier inhabitants. What you don't see is much evidence of the poor who were buried with no memorial - and in some places these greatly outnumbered those whose names were carved in stone. New research by a local group has uncovered fresh evidence of the disrespectful treatment of Bristol's poorest in former times. Eugene Byrne reports

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A COMMUNITY history group in Bristol has just revealed details of the shocking treatment of the poorest Bristolians in death in Victorian times.

The findings include unexpectedly large numbers of "paupers" buried in unmarked graves, often crammed in together to maximise the profits of private cemetery companies.

In one case they found that the remains of eighty-four individuals in a single plot.

The research is the work of the Eastville Workhouse Memorial Group (EWMG) which ten years ago released the details of more than 4,000 paupers who had been buried in unmarked graves in Rosemary Green, Eastville. These people had been inmates of the Eastville Workhouse, nowadays the site of the East Park housing estate on Fishponds Road.

The EWMG, with the help of the local community, went on to mark the pauper burial ground at Rosemary Green, the entrance to the workhouse and the final resting place of the remains in Avon View cemetery with two memorials and a plaque.

Now, the group has revealed data, researched over the last few years, on pauper burials from the workhouse death registers for the years 1895-1914. This research shows that 2,375 unclaimed bodies of paupers were interred in three private cemeteries.

The largest number are at Ridgeway Park (1,264), an almost-forgotten burial ground in Fishponds which in more recent times is being looked after by local volunteers, who are also researching the life-stories of those buried there (See BT feature, July 15 2025).

There are also 962 burials at Greenbank and about 100 at Arnos Vale. Many other deceased paupers from the Eastville Workhouse were claimed by friends and relatives who could prove they could pay for a simple funeral but they, too, were usually interred in unmarked graves in these and other private cemeteries.