C O N T E X T 1 7 1 : M A R C H 2 0 2 2 35 ALEXANDRA FAIRCLOUGH Cemetourism: bringing life to burial grounds Heritage bodies can work with libraries and educators to raise the profiles of small, tranquil cemeteries as places to visit, and attract funding to ensure their maintenance. My interest in the art and architecture of funerary monuments and burial grounds as features worthy of conservation started many years ago as a fledging conservation officer. However, my fascination for the people who lay beneath the ground started during the Covid-19 pandemic. In truth, I never really had time to think about them. I live in the suburbs of a city, and the parks, rivers and canal footpaths were busy in my local area, so I chose to walk in my local cemeteries.They were all tranquil and beautiful places, and were surprisingly empty, despite being originally created as places to visit and promenade, as well as being resting places for the dead. This article is a version of a blog that I wrote relating to three local cemeteries. I am not going to recite the history, architecture or interpretation of different burial sites. Historic England and eminent scholars have already done an excellent job and there are societies that provide detailed information relating to cemetourism (for example, the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (ASCE) and Highgate Cemetery). However, I am going to share my insights into my informal lockdown research and my thoughts relating to local cemeteries and how to promote them as visitor destinations. It might be a springboard for getting heritage bodies to work alongside libraries and educators to provide a heritage resource, raising the profiles of small cemeteries as places to visit, and attracting funding to ensure their maintenance and long-term management. As I walked around admiring the sculptures and epitaphs, I thought about the people and their lives, and I wondered how many locals knew about this aspect of their local history. I started to research several of the people buried in the cemeteries with the idea of creating a fundraising talk for my local community – which I did. It was well received and resulted in a fundraising walking tour. I had identified an untapped educational resource. It had helped to create a community of interested people keen to share the interesting local knowledge and I have since led groups of all ages around my local cemetery. I am hoping to create better interpretation information which could enhance the visitor experience, raise the profile of the cemeteries, and in turn lead to improved funding for the management and maintenance of these special places. Budgets relating to the maintenance of cemeteries have always been under pressure in every local authority that I have worked for, and I noticed that maintenance of many of those I visited was at best minimal, and enhancement was non-existent. I thought that local authorities and churches (outside of popular tourist destinations) were missing a trick to promote a sense of community ownership and a wider interest in these places. This could keep these burial grounds attractively managed and maintained and linked, to that, more interesting to the general public. Burial grounds are described by Historic England as ‘some of our most sensitive historical open spaces’. This refers to both churchyards and cemeteries. Cemeteries were designed and planned to create gardens for the dead. They are also memorials to the deceased. Much care and attention were paid to their funerary monuments. This included the design, form and materials used, and the symbolism and inscriptions chosen. It provides a valuable teaching resource in areas such as history, archaeology, religion, sociology, health, art and architecture. They create natural habitats for birds, animals and insects, and provide a geological interest in the material used for their monuments. In short, they are, or could be, a brilliant educational resource, which in turn provides an attractive destination worthy of more investment. Cemetourism is visiting burial grounds and cemeteries with stories to tell. It is not a new concept: many cemeteries have big stories to tell and have been visited by tourists for decades. Highgate Cemetery, London, and Père Lachaise, Paris, are examples. But what about the local Weaste Cemetery, opened in 1857, is the oldest of Salford’s four cemeteries. (Photo: P Lucas, Wikimedia)
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