Up to the 1700s, most of our English ancestors were buried on the south side of the parish church in an unmarked grave, wrapped in a shroud (after 1678 it had to be wool). If a coffin was used for the service it was probably the parish coffin, because most people could not afford their own. The great and the wealthy were buried inside the church and had memorials suitable to their station in life.

Churchyards were not big enough to allot a fresh space of ground for everyone; bodies were buried on top of others already interred. The level of the churchyard rose, or the bones of those long dead might have been removed to a charnel house (also known as an ossuary); sometimes the crypt under the church served this purpose. A charnel house is more likely to be found associated with a town or city church.

Not everyone wanted to be buried in the parish churchyard; Puritans, Catholics, Quakers, and other nonconformists looked for their own locations. The earliest burial grounds for those not within the Church of England were opened in the 1600s. Bunhill Fields in London, first referred to as a dissenters' burial ground in 1665, may be the best known; others were opened after passage of the Toleration Act in 1689. Few Roman Catholic churches had their own burial grounds before 1800.

Population growth and the migration of people into towns and cities led to a space crisis in the 1800s. This was also a health crisis, and local government officials became aware of the dangers of overcrowded burial grounds in the midst of densely populated streets. Beginning in the 1820s, privately operated and city/town-operated cemeteries opened in many urban areas.

Church of England Records
A few Church of England registers date from 1538, but many more begin in the 1560s or 1590s. Not every deceased person was recorded; those left out included suicides, executed criminals, and unbaptized children. Catholics and nonconformists, although entitled to burial in the parish churchyard, may have been buried elsewhere and would not have had the burial service read.

Sometimes the burial of a dissenter was noted in the register; mention may also be found in the presentments (reports) of the churchwardens to the court of the local archdeacon or bishop; these records are usually in county record offices in England.

Register entries were brief, perhaps just the name and the date. Some registers give the age of the deceased and place of abode; if the deceased was a child or unmarried daughter, then the father's name may have been recorded. From 1813 there was a set format for a burial entry: name of the deceased, place of residence, age, date of burial, and name of officiating minister.

If registers have not survived, check for contemporary copies known as the Bishop's Transcripts (BT). Each year, around Easter, local parishes were required to submit copies of all entries recorded in the parish register to the office of the bishop. This practice did not happen everywhere (e.g., not for London churches) but was widespread enough that the existence of BTs should be ascertained (For locating BTs, I recommend Bishops' Transcripts, by J.S.W. Gibson, Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS), 5th ed; (www.ffhs.co.uk).

Microfilm copies of a significant percentage of Church of England registers and/or BTs can be viewed through the facilities of the Family History Library and the network of Family History Centers.

Public Burial Grounds
The Rosary Cemetery, opened in 1825 in Norwich, was the first urban burial ground available to all who paid the fees. Others soon followed in Manchester, Liverpool, and London. (There, Kensal Green was the first in 1832.)

If your ancestor died in a large city after 1830, check into new cemeteries and some of the history. In London, Brookwood and other cemeteries competed for the contracts to bury the poor of several London boroughs, not necessarily close by. The wealthy had their preferred burial grounds too. Most people were buried; cremation was not legal before 1884 and the use of this alternative grew very slowly.

Some of these records have been published, some are in local libraries and archives, while others remain with the cemetery. Check online through GENUKI and in the Family History Library Catalog according to the place for resources; regional archives and libraries will also have information, and perhaps the records of the new cemeteries. For London there is a guide, Greater London Cemeteries and Crematoria, published by the Society of Genealogists.

Research Hints
Before beginning a search for burial records consider the date range, the religion of the family, and the size of the community. Directories and topographical dictionaries or detailed gazetteers should list large burial grounds. Once you know if you are searching only in Church of England churchyards, or more widely, then you can check for records and how to access them.

Keep several other facts to the fore. What was the ancestor's home parish? What was his approximate age at death? Where did the ancestor die? (Death may not have occurred at home.) Is the date of death definitely before the start of civil registration, 1 July 1837?

As part of your search, consult the National Burial Index, a project of the Federation of Family History Societies. The first edition is on two CDs and can be purchased from the FFHS online shop. More recent segments of this project can be accessed through the online database site of the FFHS for a fee.

Lastly, there is a guide to this subject, Basic Facts about Using Death and Burial Records for Family Historians, by Lilian Gibbons, published by the Federation of Family History Societies.

Links
Burial Records in Scotland before 1855
Burial Records in Ireland before 1864