36 C O N T E X T 1 7 1 : M A R C H 2 0 2 2 cemetery containing the remains of less wellknown people? Where do they fit in? In my ramblings every burial ground was full of stories, and each contained several persons of regional interest or national interest. I also found intriguing stories about people who were never well known or who had been forgotten. My daily walks took me to several churchyards and cemeteries. I am concentrating on three cemeteries in Greater Manchester: Southern Cemetery, Chorlton, Manchester; Weaste Cemetery, Salford; and Sale and Brooklands Cemetery, Sale. All three cemeteries are included on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest and include several listed structures within their planned layouts. They are all still in use for burials. By the mid-19th century many towns and cities were faced with the prospect that quite soon there would be lack of burial space. Throughout this period, various reports and Acts of Parliament were published regarding the problems associated with overcrowded burial grounds. One such act was the Public Health Act 1848, which was brought in soon after the Asiatic cholera epidemic in the late 1840s. This claimed 62,000 lives nationally and around 814 lives in Manchester. Under this act local boards of health were introduced,with the power to close burial grounds that were found to be dangerous to public health. The Burial Act 1853 gave local authorities the power to purchase land in order to establish and administer their own cemeteries. Under the Burials Beyond the Metropolis Act 1853, parish vestries were able to elect local authority ‘burial boards’ to undertake and supervise the administration of the burial of the dead. Southern Cemetery is located south of Manchester. It is a busy cemetery with burials/ cremations on most days. Opened in 1879, it is the largest municipal cemetery in the country (and second largest in Europe). It has landscaped gardens, hundreds of trees, wellmaintained pathways and planted beds. It is managed by the parks team of Manchester City Council and is well visited. It includes six listed structures, four of which are chapels, and all appear in generally good condition.These buildings were designed by the architect HJ Paul and the city surveyor James Gascoigne Lynde. The cemetery had mortuary chapels for Anglicans, non-conformists and Roman Catholics, and a Jewish chapel. It is also in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It includes the final resting place of several famous Mancunians, which helps to attract visitors. They include Sir Matt Busby, the Scottish footballer and manager of Manchester United between 1945–1969 and 1970–71; John Rylands, Victorian entrepreneur and major philanthropist, who owned the largest textile manufacturing business in the UK; LS Lowry, the artist famous for his stylised painting of industrial scenes of north-west England, whose work is displayed in the Lowry Art Gallery at Salford Quays; and Anthony H Wilson, BBC and ITV journalist, television and radio presenter, record label owner, night club owner and manager of several high-profile bands. This is a good example of how a cemetery can be managed. Weaste Cemetery is located near Salford Quays. It opened in 1857 and is the oldest of Salford four cemeteries, and the oldest one I visited. Salford, an exciting, vibrant city full of history and heritage, is known as the cradle of the industrial revolution. It recognised that churchyards were getting overfull, leading to insanitary conditions for the densely populated areas, that alternative burial grounds were needed. Weaste Cemetery was built with four chapels and a Burials in Manchester’s Southern Cemetery include Sir Matt Busby (Photo: P Lucas, Wikimedia); LS Lowry (Photo: Alexandra Fairclough); and Anthony Wilson (Photo: Anthony P Buce, Wikimedia)
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