Halifax St John the Baptist graveyard

Continuing the series on Calderdale churchyards where Hileys/Highleys were buried but no monumental inscriptions remain ..........

Parish registers were formally introduced in England in 1538 following the split with the Roman Catholic Church, when Thomas Cromwell, minister to Henry VIII, issued an injunction requiring the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials to be kept.

The earliest available registers for West Yorkshire are the Parish registers of Halifax, 1538-1593. These cover baptisms, marriages and burials which took place in the Parish church of St John's, Halifax.

The earliest Hiley burial recorded in these registers was that of Margareta, daughter of Johane Hylyle of Sowerby on 27th April 1540.

The Blogpost of 14th March 2019 showed the will of James Hilaleighe of Sowerby, written in 1577. In common with all the other wills available from this time, he requested that he be buried at Halifax:

.............and my body to be buried in the churchyard of Halifax among the bodies of the faithful there buried expecting with them to have a joyful resurrection...........

All Hiley burials up to 1611 took place in Halifax and up until 1799 Halifax accounted for over one half of all Hiley burials which had taken place in Calderdale up to that time.

A record exists for the burial of Luke Highley:
In memory of Luke Highley of Halifax who departed this life on the 6th day of March 1814 aged 63. Also of Sarah, his wife, who died on 26th Dec 1814 aged 64 years
(Area K, opposite end from D of W chapel)

The plan below shows the lettered areas of the Parish Church tombstones as they were in 1934.

David Glover writes:

Many sections including section K were completely grassed over circa 1950. So, no chance the Luke Highley stone will be visible today. The only sections visible today are E, F, GG, small part of L, M, N, Q, R and S - basically footpaths and walking areas.

There are many ancient tombstones under the grass we have been asked about over the years; they are still there, but inaccessible. Yes - buried, like those beneath! Fortunately The Friends of Halifax Parish Church carried out a full inventory of the inscriptions in 1934, which is why we are lucky enough today to have the MIs (Monumental Inscriptions) in full.

Very few ledger stones survive from the early 17th Century. The earliest are dated around 1630, though of course there may be more grassed over. Even within the building, there are hardly any pre Civil War. We are not clear if it was rare to have stones in the 1600s, or whether some older ones were later removed, broken up, and replaced. Thousands were buried over many centuries in the churchyard, we can tell from the Burials Register, and on more than one occasion rooms under the church were used as a charnel house for bones.