thanks to PaulBeryl for this explanation
Re: common graves
As far as I am aware pauper/common graves are not necessarily in unconsecrated ground. People who committed suicide (when suicide was still a crime), felons who had been executed and in some (but not all) instances stillborn children (who had not been christened) were buried in unconsecrated ground but pauper/common graves could be in either. Church of England churchyards are consecrated grounds but cemeteries are usually divided into two sections; one section is consecrated on opening and is mainly used for Church of England burials and one section is unconsecrated which is used for non-Church of England or atheist burials. However individual plots in the unconsecrated section can be consecrated before burial if the particular faith requires it (e.g. Roman Catholic).
Different types of grave are:
Private Grave
A plot of ground purchased by a person who then had the burial rights to the grave dug in it, confirmed by a parchment certificate or 'grave paper', a duplicate of which was kept by the Burial Grounds Committee. Separate fees would be paid for the plot, for the making of the grave (sometimes as a brick-lined vault), for each burial in it, and for the right to erect a headstone or other monument.
Common Grave
The general term for a grave in which no private burial rights existed. Common graves were .filled over the course of a few days with the bodies of unrelated people who died during that period and whose families could just about afford a very basic burial but not a private grave. No headstone was erected, so the occupants were un-commemorated.
Lock-Up Grave (sometimes called Open Grave)
The cheapest category of common grave. It appears that these graves were not completely filled in after each burial. Instead, a wooden 'door' was locked in place on to some kind of framework around the grave. When the grave was full the contraption was removed so that the grave looked like any other.
Public Grave
Another type of common grave. The grave was filled up completely after each interment, so that the deepest burial involved most work and cost the largest amount.
Inscription Grave
The third type of common grave. This differed from the other two by having a headstone and, as far as I am aware, is very rare (and may actually be restricted to specific localities). The intention was to avoid the 'shame' of an un-commemorated burial. Each headstone would typically serve two burial plots the inscription giving the names, ages and dates of death of the unrelated dead in the graves.
Pauper’s Grave
A grave for burials where the cost of the burial has been met from public funds. Any common grave would probably contain some paupers as well as some people whose families had managed to pay for the burial, so there is really no such thing as a 'pauper's grave', and the term is never used officially.
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I thought I would add a bit more on stillborn children, and those children who died before baptism, which had been a bit of a “grey” area for the Christian faith. Muslims believe the souls of stillborn babies go straight to Heaven whereas the Christian faith had wrestled with the fate of un-baptised children. Since the 13th century the Roman Catholic answer was limbo, a halfway house between heaven and hell, which whilst not official church doctrine did form part of church teaching This state of “limbus infantium” was only abolished by the Pope in 2006. The Church of England does not believe in limbo and it was vague on what actually happened to stillborn babies. On the other hand Baptists and some other Protestant denominations resisted infant baptism because they believe the souls of babies are innocent.
This confusion has resulted in various anomalies. You find some stillborn babies buried in consecrated ground and some in unconsecrated ground depending on the view of the local priest. There is also evidence that some stillborn babies were christened to allow them to be buried in consecrated ground (look for parish records where the birth, christening and death all occurred on the same day). Likewise some midwives were authorised to baptise children born alive but not expected to live to allow the child to be buried in consecrated ground. If the child survived they were subsequently formally baptised in church resulting in two baptism records.
Thankfully today a more sympathetic attitude is taken and stillborn babies can be buried in consecrated ground
