This was the first cemetery in Doncaster when it opened in 1856. It contains over 16,000 plots and is now closed to new interments. There was some sand extraction in the area prior to the cemetery. This began around 1830. The sand extraction was converted to a mine and subsequently into show caves with fantastic carvings. The exact location and condition of the caves remains a mystery. Before this, the area consisted of agricultural land. The original pattern of enclosures was created by a programme of drainage on Doncaster Carr. This resulted in a series of straight and regular fields aligned on the drainage ditches. Legibility of the former landscape is invisible.