Work begins to restore forgotten asylum cemetery
We've been looking into restoration work at Rauceby Hospital Cemetery as part of our Lost Souls project
Last updated 29th Sep 2025
Work is under way to restore two long-neglected cemeteries near Sleaford where more than 700 former Rauceby Mental Asylum patients were buried.
Rauceby Hospital closed in 1997 after more than a century caring for people with mental illness. Its cemeteries - one old and one newer - had been left to ruin, swallowed by six-foot brambles and scrub.
Local resident Jo Thompson discovered the site in lockdown.
“I was looking at local maps and saw that there were some cemeteries near to where I live," she said, "I came out and I couldn't see any cemeteries anywhere. So I kept checking the map and thinking, this doesn't add up."
"Then, after a bit of research, I found out that the wasteland which I was walking past was actually the cemetery."
Shocked by the neglect, Jo formed the Friends of Rauceby Cemetery group to push for restoration and remembrance.
“There's a lot to do around the ground, it's still not clear. We can't actually see any of the burial plots," said Jo.
"We need to be respectful of both the people who are here and the relatives who are still alive, many of whom reached out to us through the project."
Ownership of the cemeteries has now passed to Sleaford Town Council, which has begun clearing the land and working with Jo’s group.
"We're thankful to have records relating to the hospital in the archives at Lincoln, so we know who is buried here, but we don't know exactly where," said Chris Pilkington, Sleaford Town Clerk.
"But these are not ancient burial grounds. The last people buried here was in 1970s.
"We're talking about people with a range of conditions, people just suffering from dementia, people perhaps who have misdiagnosed autism, people suffering from syphilis.
Chris says Rauceby reflects a national pattern.
"It just speaks to the way that society in the past, and still today, has valued those who are mentally ill."
This pattern has been evidenced by our exclusive investigation which has found mental asylum cemeteries across the country left to neglect.