Difference

[MWB]

What's the difference between a graveyard and a cemetary?

[hippyhoppy]

a graveyard is a burial ground (within a churchyard), whereas a cemetery is a burial ground without a church any where near by, me thinks....

[dot.hawkes]

Burials originally took place within the Church, depending on someones status in the Parish, the higher the status the nearer to the Altar, as the church filled up old burials were removed and burnt in the back of the Church, which is where Bon(e)fire comes from, then burials began to take place on the putside of the church, in the open ground, which was not walled in, until it was discovered that pigs could dig the bodies up, then walls were put around the graveyard and bodies were buried 6 feet deep as it was discovered that pigs wouldn't dig down so far as they knew they couldn't get out.

Public cemetaries were introduced in the mid 1800s, mainly in urban areas to make room for the masses. Some religions had seperate Burial Grounds, like the baptists and Quakers .

[taliesin238]

the Romans had cemetaries!! they used to think that it was un sanitary to live anywhere near the dead and had strict rules!! They had cemetries built outside of their towns. The laws of this is stated in the Roman 'Twelve Tables'. Hence dot.hawkes and hippyhoppy are right!! Except cemetaries are much older than the 1800s!!

[DotH]

I was refering to the introduction of public cemetaries in the mid 1800s purpose built in british towns and cities and run by the local authorities.

[fletcher.5]

i would suggest that a cemetery contains unknown bodies , wheras bodies in a grave yard are known Just to add to the issue