Abney Unearthed project update
The volunteer-based Abney Unearthed project has now run for just over two years.
The project initially began in 2017 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (now NLHF) and Hackney Council. The initial project ended in 2019 and was deemed successful by the HLF after delivering all outputs and providing engaging tours, informative displays, also producing the first version of the online map and adding information to the new database. The online map is available here.
The project was developed to re-map Abney Park - to create an online searchable map, to add missing information to the burial records, to research the various residents of Abney Park and to bring their stories to light.
Volunteers work on site and check the position of each grave against the plot maps, they also note the type of headstone and any names on the headstone that aren’t in the existing burial records. This information is then added to the re-formatted database and is also used to create new pdf maps.
Abney Unearthed achievements include -
- volunteers on the ground have covered around a 16,000 of the 60,000 graves on site. Working with the original plot maps they check the details of each individual grave.
- approximately 18,000 pieces of information have been added to the database, including headstone type and condition.
- 349 unrecorded people have been added to the burial records.
- Abney Unearthed has checked details of 954 people in common graves and confirmed approximately 175 common graves. 453 common grave headstones have been added to the database.
- mapping all of the previously unmapped areas of Abney Park, adding 1225 new graves.
- the information gathered by Abney Unearthed volunteers has enabled 4 successful grave searches in formerly unmapped areas and 6 grave searches for those in common graves - we were able to say if there was a headstone or not without searching the area, and we located each grave.
Abney Unearthed discoveries include -
- volunteers were excited to discover the oldest common grave headstone ever found – a ledger stone from 1893. Other similar stones have been located dating around 1918. These are exceptional discoveries as they looked like ‘spaces’ and we had no idea they existed.
- around 2500 graves with people of note interred within, or first row graves to be researched.
Research has so far revealed -
- John Jack Knifton d. 1896 - Cowkeeper, Bailiff, Licensed Victualler, Boxer, Radical, Philanthropist, and family man.
- Edward Johann Sage d. 1905 - local historian and Commissioner to Stoke Newington library, also an acquaintance of Charles Dickens. This grave was perviously unmapped.
- Dr Edwin William Alabone - 'a pioneer in the treatment of tuberculosis'.
- Mary Hannah Page – first Headmistress of Skinner Company’s School for girls.
- John Cusworth and Henry Dunkley, both monumental stone masons who operated near Abney Park
- Thomas Bunyon d.1889 – Chief warder at the Tower of London.
- Enough medical people to staff a hospital, including a large double grave for nurses and matrons from the German Hospital in Dalston and James Baker MD, the man responsible for the medical witnesses act.
The value of Abney Unearthed has been recognised by the London Borough of Hackney who have allowed the project to continue by generously committing funding between March of this year to the end of August 2020.
To be able continue the work in the future, Abney Unearthed has been included in the larger NLHF bid currently underway at Abney Park. The future project has ambitions to become more than what it has achieved to date. This will be achieved by adapting the online map to include various specific 'self guided tour' features, as well as the listed monuments and the notable trees.
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.
Volunteers have commented – "the spirit of Abney Unearthed: an enquiring mind, a willingness to join in the hard graft and the shared story, and a determination to help set the record straight for the future generations of Abney researchers."
Abney Unearthed would like to extend huge thanks and much appreciation to all those who have devoted their time and attention to this project, and have worked together to create outstanding results.
If you would like to be a part of this project as a ‘remote’ research volunteer or an on-site volunteer please email volunteering@abneypark.org