Erbbegräbnisstätte Schede, Family cemetery in Herdecke, Germany.

The Erbbegräbnisstätte Schede is a square family burial ground laid out in the early 19th century by Peter Harkort on the Schede estate in Herdecke. A dry-stone wall of Ruhr sandstone encloses simple, uniform grave slabs and a tall memorial column crowned by a stylised urn, set among rhododendron bushes and shade grass in beech forest.

The Harkort family had lived at Gut Schede since the mid-18th century, and Peter Harkort laid out the burial ground in the early 19th century. The oldest surviving gravestone is that of Klara Sophia Elisabeth Harkort, née Busch, who died in 1814. A date of around 1860/70 given in Route Industriekultur material may refer to the memorial column rather than the whole site. The cemetery is still in use.

The site is still used for burials today, and the family name lives on in the region: Friedrich Harkort, buried here in 1880, is remembered as an industrial pioneer of the Ruhr. The plain stone slabs, alike in material and lettering across generations, carry only names and key life dates.

The site is accessible on foot but situated within a wooded area, so sturdy shoes are recommended for walking on natural ground. The best time to visit is during dry weather when paths and grave sites are easiest to navigate.

The site is not a crypt but an open square enclosure of dry-laid Ruhr sandstone rubble walls, with a two-winged iron gate between sandstone piers on the northeast side. In the centre stands a several-metre-high memorial column crowned by a stylised urn; following the Doric order, it has no base above the three-stepped square platform. A stone plaque for Friedrich Harkort and his wife Auguste Louise is set into the wall opposite the gate.