Nottingham has all kinds of tours...
there's a ghost walk, a trail following the finest buildings of architect Watson Fothergill, and of, course, the story of Robin Hood. One of the more unusual walks is around a cemetery. Call me morbid but I find it fascinating looking around an old graveyard - only by day, mind.
Here I am, while other people are shopping, working, or sat watching daytime TV, trudging around the General Cemetery on a guided tour - and I have to say with more than two-and-a-half hours of stories, both educational and entertaining, it's well worth the three quid. The cemetery is behind the almshouses in Alfreton Road, Canning Circus. It was created after the city's church graveyards could take no more.
Get the latest What's On news straight to your phone by joining us on WhatsApp The Nottingham General Cemetery Company was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1836. The company purchased 12 acres of land for £5,885. It grew and grew, stretching as far as the Arboretum.
All was going well until it was reported that the bodies were not being buried deep enough and were too close together, breaking Home Office guidelines, says our guide Kevin Powell, of Nottingham Civic Society. It led to the cemetery closure in 1923 - and from then on the only burials were those in existing family plots. Fewer bodies meant less money so the General Cemetery Company went bankrupt, with the cemetery passing to the Crown.
Despite protestations, the Crown off-loaded it to Nottingham C.
