{"id":37375,"date":"2017-11-13T12:22:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T12:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=37375"},"modified":"2017-11-13T12:22:12","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T12:22:12","slug":"cemetery-discovers-new-severed-legs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2017\/11\/13\/cemetery-discovers-new-severed-legs\/","title":{"rendered":"Cemetery discovers new buried legs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five amputated legs are now known to have been buried in Cathays Cemetery.<\/p>\n

\"Angel

The new legs, once belonging to William Dent and Amelia Newton, join Edith Skyrme, Charles Cravos and Samuel Chivers in the list of Victorian Cardiffians who buried their legs while still alive.
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\n<\/strong>John Farnhill, treasurer of Friends of Cathays Cemetery, said: \u201cYou have to put Cathays Cemetery in the context of opening in 1859. Cemeteries in Cardiff were getting full, Cardiff was growing, and they needed a new space.\u201d
\n<\/span>
\n<\/strong>\u201cIt isn\u2019t uncommon to bury legs. People didn\u2019t, and still don\u2019t, know what to do with them<\/a>.\u201d
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Wealthy eccentric Charles Cravos lost his leg to a cricket injury when he was 13, whereas Edith Skyrme was amputated after a tragic mine shaft accident. According to The Weekly Mail [1883] Chivers lost his leg from being \u201cthrown out of a [horse and carriage] trap on the way from Pontypridd.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Amelia Newton [1841 -1916] was amputated at the age of 60 most likely due to illness, and buried her leg in an unmarked grave. She was later laid to rest separate from her leg in Cathays Cemetery<\/a> at the age of 75.<\/span><\/p>\n

The location of William Dent [1849 – 1913] and his leg is also mysterious, they are both buried in unmarked graves. Dent\u2019s son, also named William Dent, served in the Royal Navy and was fatally wounded at the Battle of Jutland [1916]. By researching his military history, Alt Cardiff has determined the year of his father’s death, previously unknown to the cemetery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dent and Horten\u2019s stories and the locations of their legs are still under investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n