The cemetery was built on a gently sloping site overlooking Doncaster Carr. The upper part of the cemetery is on glacial sand and gravel, and the OS map of 1854 shows a “Gravel Pit” in the western field with a track running to it from Carr Lane.\n\nRobert James Johnson, an assistant to George Glbert Scott, was the chosen architect. The chapels and lodge cost £1594, while the boundary wall, exclusive of palisade, cost £1158. The work was carried out by Messrs Anelay of Doncaster. \n\nThe cemetery opened in January 1856. It had gently curving walks on the upper part where the most expensive plots (1st and 2nd class) were located. The lower half was divided into three sections for 3rd class burials and public burials. Graves reserved for dissenters were separated from those of the established Church by a broad north-south walk, being the three plots at the eastern end of the cemetery that occupied about a third of the ground. There were plots for flowers and shrubs, the cemetery being planted with 4,000 weeping and drooping trees, shrubs, evergreens, cedars and roses.\n