Ballast Hills Burial Ground: Rediscovery and Reimagining
Ballast Hills Burial Ground is a rare surviving example of an unconsecrated public burial ground in England. Set within Newcastle’s Lower Ouseburn Valley.
About the Project
Ballast Hills Burial Ground is a rare surviving example of an unconsecrated public burial ground in England. Set within Newcastle’s Lower Ouseburn Valley, it served the city’s poorest residents, religious dissenters, migrants, sailors, and others whose lives often operated beyond the structures of parish oversight. Its layered histories offer a valuable perspective on urban change, inequality, belief, mobility, and community life from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.
The project draws on several earlier stages of work carried out at Newcastle University. Pilot research in 2022, supported through pass-through funding from the Ouseburn Trust and Newcastle City Council, enabled early archival investigation and exploratory engagement. A Pioneer Award from the HaSS Research Institutes in 2023 supported a visioning workshop that brought academics, community partners, and heritage practitioners together to identify shared priorities. In 2024, funding from the Centre for Heritage supported the development of a proof-of-concept website based on the existing spreadsheets, which enabled data entry, editing, and surname searching and demonstrated the long-term value of a sustainable digital archive.
The project’s current phase is supported by an AHRC Curiosity Award running from July 2024 to June 2026. This funding enables integrated work across archival research, digital development, community participation, and site-based investigation, drawing on archaeological, historical, anthropological, and digital heritage expertise. The work aligns with the Centre for Heritage’s commitment to inclusive, cross-disciplinary research. Importantly, the project played a key role in establishing the North East Funerary Heritage Group, a regional collaborative network connecting volunteers, researchers, heritage professionals, and community partners who are interested in the care, study, and interpretation of burial spaces.
Creative outputs form a central part of the project. Beneath This Ground, a developing programme of poetry and musical responses to the burial ground, showcases artistic interpretations that bring the site’s histories into dialogue with contemporary voices. These contributions broaden public engagement and deepen understanding of the burial ground’s cultural significance.
Current activities include improving access to archival material, developing a digital burial register, carrying out geomatic and geophysical surveys, and collaborating with volunteers, community groups, and descendant families. The project also contributes to wider discussions in heritage studies about ethical practice, the stewardship of historic burial places, and the value of community-led approaches for enriching understandings of the past.
Curiosity Award Project Details
Principal Investigators: Dr Myra Giesen (School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences) and Dr Shane McCorristine (School of History, Classics and Archaeology)
Funding: AHRC Curiosity Award
Duration: July 2024 to June 2026
Partners: Community volunteers and interest groups; Harry Gallagher; Newcastle City Council; Newcastle City Library; North East Museums: Tyne and Wear Archives; Ouseburn Trust; Phoenix Folk (including Miggins Fiddle and Harry Gallagher)