The exhibition, created by the Friends of Wednesfield Burial Ground and led by Project Manager Marie Sewell, and Creative Support Graham Stubbs, is on show until next Thursday (9 October) in the library’s first floor balcony display cabinets.
At the heart of the display is a stencilled tile installation, designed and created in a community workshop with 2nd Wednesfield Explorers. Inspired by Victorian tile stencilling techniques and centred around a fragment of Minton encaustic tile uncovered at the site of the former Mortuary Chapel, the workshop and exhibition contribute towards the Explorers’ Creative Arts Activity Badge.
Visitors can enjoy a diorama co-created by members of Wednesfield History Society in the style of a traditional Victorian paper theatre. The diorama imagines the view through the long lost cemetery gates from Cemetery Road, based on contemporary newspaper articles, oral histories, maps, and archaeological finds.
There are also photographs and a video by Graham, capturing the atmosphere and beauty of the burial ground, a commemorative poem by local historian Jackie Harrison, sacred to the Memory of Thomas Tomkys, the first burial in Wednesfield New Burial Ground, a plan of the foundations of the Mortuary Chapel by Steve Brackett, alongside archaeological finds located close to the surface, and a collection of ‘Stories from the Stones’, written by Wednesfield History Society’s Sue and Gary Edwards, Hazel Keirle and Jackie Harrison.
Marie said: “The project aims to engage the community and raise awareness of the burial ground’s significance in Wednesfield’s history for generations to come.”
Councillor Bhupinder Singh Gakhal, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Resident Services, added: “We are pleased to be hosting this exhibition at Central Library which shines a spotlight on an important piece of our city’s heritage.”
As part of the project, the Friends are appealing for memories of the Mortuary Chapel which stood in Wednesfield Burial Ground from 1861 until its demolition in 1960. Anyone with recollections or family stories is encouraged to share them by emailing wednesfieldbg@gmail.com or writing to: The Wednesfield Burial Ground Project, c/o St Thomas’ Church, 31-33 Church Street, Wednesfield WV11 1SS.
This project is supported by Hands on Wednesfield and Creative Black Country, as part of Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places National Portfolio programme, Wednesfield History Society, St Thomas’ Church Wednesfield, Wolverhampton City Archives, Central Library, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and the council. For further information, please visit Wednesfield Burial Ground Project.
