neverforget Posted 10 October , 2013 Share Posted 10 October , 2013 Perhaps this is a bit of a long shot, but could anyone please help me out with a cemetery plan for Uplands cemetery in Smethwick. I have volunteered to photograph about 100 graves here, and have so far been unable to track down a plan of the cemetery. Not a very good start ! Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon2 Posted 10 October , 2013 Share Posted 10 October , 2013 I don't know this cemetery but I have found in my area and a few in London that if you contact the local authority who controls that cemetery they should have a plan of some sort. This may not always be the case but I have had quite a few very helpful people from cemeteries departments that have been extremely kind with my inquires over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 10 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 10 October , 2013 Thanks Simon. I may have to go down that road in the end I think. I have searched online for a couple of days now, and have stumbled across forums with similar requests to my own here, and a plan for this particular cemetery has proved to be quite elusive. My experiences with other cemeteries have mirrored your own on the whole, but on the other hand I have had one or two just not bothering to reply to my e-mails. Generally though, people like to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arboskittler Posted 10 October , 2013 Share Posted 10 October , 2013 This forum talks about Uplands.........might be worth following up? http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=39337 Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Evans Posted 10 October , 2013 Share Posted 10 October , 2013 Try contacting the CWGC, they have cemetery plans for all of the graves for which they are responsible. Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 10 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 10 October , 2013 Yes Andy thanks. This was one of the forums I stumbled across, but it wouldn`t let me view the jpg without logging in. I`ve got a contact number to try tomorrow, so if that fails it looks like I`ll be joining another forum. That`ll please the wife. Thanks again, I appreciate you`re looking for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 10 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 10 October , 2013 Roy, I think we must have been posting at the same time as one another. Many thanks for your suggestion. I will give it a go and send them an e-mail. Hope your arm gets better soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 11 October , 2013 Share Posted 11 October , 2013 Morning Not trying to put you off BUT I visited in August last year and it was a nightmare !! It is absolutely massive with no markings as to where the plots are. I rang before going and was unable to find a map of the cemetery. I eventually managed to find a groundsman (who incidentally has his office across the road from the cemetery. Cross Thimblemill Road, bear right at the junction and theres another cemetery there) and he was most helpful and took me to the graves I wanted. Luckily I only wanted 10 or so. Good luck in your quest, Regards, Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 11 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2013 Morning Graeme, and thanks for getting back to me. Judging by your experience last year, it looks like I might be in for a bit of an "adventure" with this one, and without a map it`s just a non-starter I`m afraid. No joy with the contact number that I found, so I think I`ll be doing what Roy suggested, and e-mailing the C.W.G.C. When I do turn a map up, I`ll post it here. Hopefully it might help someone in the future. Best regards. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 11 October , 2013 Share Posted 11 October , 2013 Ian, Many men are just named on the memorial which is, obviously, easy to photograph. I have these if you want them, Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 11 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2013 Graeme. That would be a fantastic help to me. Very kind of you to offer. I`ll take the liberty of sending you a P.M. with my e-mail address. I`m very grateful to you for helping me out. Many thanks once again. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 11 October , 2013 Share Posted 11 October , 2013 Steve, All sent, Regards, Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 11 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2013 Graeme, you`re a star. Thanks very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 11 October , 2013 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2013 I`ve sent an e-mail to the C.W.G.C. requesting maps for both of the Smethwick cemeteries, so, any response and I`ll post them on here, if the mods have no objections. I shall of course acknowledge the source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 4 November , 2013 Author Share Posted 4 November , 2013 The map for Smethwick Uplands is now here, via the link below. On it is a total of some 141 names. http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=201517 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnumbellum Posted 5 November , 2013 Share Posted 5 November , 2013 For the record, it should be noted that the title to this thread is strangely misleading. Smethwick, although adjacent to Birmingham, has never been part of Birmingham, and was for many years a county borough in its own right, If Upands cemetery is in Smethwick, than "Birmingham" ought not to be appended, and this has implications for any enquiries that might be made to the relevant local authority, which, in the case of Smethwick, has from 1 April 1974 been the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 5 November , 2013 Author Share Posted 5 November , 2013 You are quite correct to point this out. Thank you. I am aware that it falls under Sandwell and not Birmingham, and only included Birmingham in the title because of the proximity, and the thought that some people researching Birmingham soldiers may be interested. There are a great many war graves in Uplands, and not all of them are from Smethwick. No offence meant to anyone from Smethwick, and no deliberate attempt to mislead. Thanks for clarifying my faux pas for the benefit of other members. Best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuggs Posted 5 February , 2014 Share Posted 5 February , 2014 I live just around the corner from this cemetery. If I can be of any assistance please let me know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 8 February , 2014 Author Share Posted 8 February , 2014 Hello Stuggs, and many thanks for your kind offer. I took this on a while ago now, and when I started there were well over a hundred names to find. I have whittled it down to seventeen in total, six of which are in a public grave awaiting headstones. So that leaves eleven still to photograph. I haven`t been able to get over just lately to finish the job, and so any help at all would be most welcome. I do have maps and grave locations etc that I could email to you if you are sure that it wouldn`t be too much trouble. The lady that has been waiting has shown great patience with me, and so I`m sure that there would be no great rush. That said, It would be nice to see it finished, and your offer of help has spurred me into updating my record of the names still needed. Many thanks once again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuggs Posted 9 February , 2014 Share Posted 9 February , 2014 I will send you an email so you can send me whatever you need sorting. Once you understand the way the cemetery was set out and use the dates on the graves as a guide, it does get a lot easier to get about up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 9 February , 2014 Author Share Posted 9 February , 2014 Many thanks. Email sent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuggs Posted 9 February , 2014 Share Posted 9 February , 2014 I have managed to make a very rough and basic map of the cemetery sections but cannot attach the image. I will send it to your email address and then hopefully you may have more success posting it for other members to use in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 10 February , 2014 Author Share Posted 10 February , 2014 Had to downsize it to the minimum, in order to clear the 250KB allowed, but still useable I reckon. It may be possible to up-size it after downloading, I`m not sure about that. My p.c. skills are somewhat limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Hales Posted 17 February , 2014 Share Posted 17 February , 2014 There are plans in existence, but I hesitate to use the word "accessible". Probably totalling 20 or so sheets, they are all printed about A0 size (varying) and laminated, I have seen them. Last year I was looking for a 1912 burial there in a public grave. The plans live in the cemetery new admin block on the opposite side of Thimblemill Road, but I don't know how cooperative the staff might be when approached by a member of the general public. I happened to get the assistance of a friendly mason who was doing some refurb work there in the old part at the time. Having a plot number, I enquired of him as to the location of the grave in question and he was more than helpful, without him (and his influence with the Admin Staff) I would not have found what I was after. In the areas of public graves, due to them being fairly "open" with few monuments to speak of, you can have difficulty finding a plot even with the aid of a map. You can see from the attachment, that the graves are not always in line. The mason found the plot I was after but not easily, and exposed the blue brick marker at the head of the plot. In order to relocate it at some future time, I took photographs looking N and E. The graves N/S in the pic are a section of public graves. I had to crop the pic to get it under the 250kb limit. The burial registers do not appear to make reference to the Section in which the plot is. The registers are at the Newton Road crematorium, accessible on request. Owen Hales Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 17 February , 2014 Author Share Posted 17 February , 2014 Thanks for that Owen. Very interesting and useful contribution. I guess you were lucky to have someone "on the inside" to help you when you went, but you never know, it might be possible to catch them on a good day and spur them into being helpful. I have generally found that if people can help they will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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