Overview
The York Cholera Burial Ground is a small cemetery near York railway station containing the graves of victims of the city’s 1832 cholera epidemic. The outbreak lasted from June 3 to Oct. 22, 1832, with about 450 recorded cases and approximately 185 deaths. Twenty sandstone memorial stones survive at the site.
The first identified case in York is believed to have been Thomas Hughes, a ferry worker diagnosed on June 2. As the epidemic spread, fear of the disease intensified, with unrest nearly breaking out on North Street over concerns that even seeing a hearse carrying a victim could spread cholera.
Within the first week of the outbreak, a Board of Health subcommittee allocated municipal land for the burial of victims. The resulting cemetery survives near the railway station. York-born physician John Snow, who later demonstrated the connection between cholera and contaminated water, was born on North Street in 1813.
Quick Facts
- Status
- Existing
- Locality or neighborhood
- York
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Coordinates
- 53.95847942693453, -1.0913084542453169 Google Maps · Apple Maps
Visitor Information
- Website
- Official website
