Sheffield’s not-so-grim reaper – Sheffield Tribune
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SUMMARY:
Steve McLean, the long-serving caretaker of St Michael's Cemetery in Rivelin Valley, Sheffield, has spent almost three decades transforming the Victorian burial ground from an overgrown, bramble-choked site into a well-tended green space. He and his wife, Bridget, live in the lodge cottage at the cemetery's entrance, an arrangement he embraces with good humour rather than unease, joking that it is the living, not the dead, who pose any real danger.
McLean began working at the cemetery in 1997 and spent five years single-handedly clearing dense thorns, brambles and overhanging branches, often improvising his own tools and suffering cuts in the process. Although he officially retired in 2020, no permanent groundsman has since been appointed, so McLean continues to maintain the grounds voluntarily alongside seasonal contractors, tending graves and planting wildflowers along the verges. Known locally as "Graveyard Steve," he remains a fixture of the site he helped restore.
- Steve McLean has cared for a Sheffield cemetery since 1997.
- He spent five years clearing decades of overgrowth by hand.
- Though retired in 2020, he still maintains the grounds unpaid.
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Steve McLean has spent almost 30 years looking after St Michael's Cemetery in Rivelin Valley, Sheffield, turning what was once an overgrown Victorian burial ground into a well-kept green space. He started the job in 1997 and, working largely on his own, spent five years clearing thick brambles and thorns before the site was in a fit state to maintain properly.
McLean, nicknamed "Graveyard Steve" locally, lives with his wife Bridget in the cottage at the cemetery's entrance, an arrangement he treats as unremarkable rather than eerie. He officially retired in 2020, but since no permanent replacement was hired, he has carried on looking after the grounds voluntarily, alongside occasional contractors.
The story matters as a small, human portrait of unpaid civic care: a local landmark kept going not by council resources but by one man's long-term commitment, raising questions about how such heritage sites are maintained once official funding or staffing falls away.