The Social, Cultural and Landscape History of Derby’s Victorian Cemeteries
Professor Paul A. Elliott
- Regions:
- England, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: Normally £100. Additional travel expenses if beyond Derby and Nottingham vicinity.
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 29th June 2026
- Tagged:
- History | Victorian | Cemeteries | Town History
Like many growing industrial and manufacturing centres, Derby faced problems by the early nineteenth century associated with overcrowded churchyards and the burial of the dead. Rising population, and fears about the spread of disease, fuelled these concerns. To take the pressure off overcrowded parish graveyards, new specially-designed burial grounds were created. Many were inspired by the garden and arboretum cemetery movement which associated the new type of burial ground with beautiful public walks and parks. However, the design and management of these new cemeteries caused controversy and faced opposition from those who believed places for the dead should remain sacred, associated with churches, not be designed like pleasure parks, and never run as businesses. This talk explores Derby’s Victorian garden cemeteries on Uttoxeter New Road and Nottingham Road. It examines how and why they were created, how they were designed and planted and how social class and religious divisions shaped these elements. We will consider the religious, landscape gardening and civic ideas which inspired them, and how and why these cemeteries changed through time, examining them within the context of the development of Victorian urban burial grounds more broadly.
Views: 9 | Enquiries: 0About Professor Paul A. Elliott
Professor Paul A. Elliott: Brief Biography and Talks, Workshops and Tours
I am an English Midland-based historian with over thirty years experience working in universities and colleges, doing talks and leading workshops and history and heritage tours. I have a degree in Ancient History and History, a Masters Degree in Roman Studies, PhD in History and Post-Graduate Certificate in Adult Education, and am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Trustee of the Derby Arboretum and member of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Research and Publications Committee. My research interests include the history of science and medicine, landscape and environmental history, the history of art and creative cultures, local, urban and regional history, historical geography and the history of education. Organisations I have done talks, workshops and tours for include universities, colleges, history, garden history and heritage groups, the U3A, the Historical Association, Derwent Valley Mills WHS, arts centres, theatres, civic societies, book festivals, friends of parks trusts, local government organisations, medical schools, museums, libraries, archives and county record offices.
I have authored around a hundred academic books, journal articles, book chapters, newspaper and magazine pieces, reviews, blogs and other materials, and my books include: The Derby Philosophers: Science and Culture in British Urban Society, 1700-1850 (Manchester; Manchester University Press, 2009/2025); Enlightenment, Modernity and Science: Geographies of Scientific Culture and Improvement in Georgian England (London; Bloomsbury Academic, 2010/2020); (as co-author) The British Arboretum: Trees, Science and Culture in the Nineteenth Century (Pittsburgh; University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011/2019); British Urban Trees: a Social and Cultural History c.1800-1914 (Cambridge; Whitehorse Press, 2016); (as co-editor) Nottingham's Victorian Green Spaces (Peregrine Press, 2020); Erasmus Darwin's Gardens: Medicine, Agriculture and the Enlightenment Sciences (London; Boydell Press, 2021/2025); Enlightenment, Sociability and Provincial Culture: Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Wright and Friends (Manchester; Manchester University Press, 2026).
I am very happy to do illustrated talks, tours (including private tours with smaller groups), and workshops (more interactive, using documents). My subjects include the social and cultural history of science and medicine, Enlightenment, landscape and environmental history (including tree cultures, woodland and arboretums), the history of art and creative cultures, local, urban and regional history, historical geography and the history of education. My main expertise is in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Britain, Europe and North America, and I do talks (and tours) on the history of Derby, Nottingham, Lichfield, Buxton, Matlock and Cromford for instance, or focussed upon the subjects of my books or other publications.
Talks and workshops usually last an hour with questions, tours an hour to an hour and a half, but I can adapt sessions to suit your needs. My usual fee is £100 plus reasonable travel expenses outside the Nottingham and Derby vicinity, and accommodation if it is a long way from there. I'm happy to come at late notice if available. Do get in touch if you’d like to discuss anything further!
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