Weaste Cemetery

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A public cemetery opened in 1857 and extended in 1887-8 by the Borough Engineer, Arthur Jacob, with planting by Henry Moore, head gardener at Peel Park. Weaste Cemetery was the first municipal public cemetery in Salford.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

The c 16ha cemetery is situated in Weaste in the south of Salford, c 4km to the west of Manchester city centre. To the east, south, and west the roughly rectangular site is bounded by industrial properties. The south boundary is marked by c 3m high C20 metal fencing and the east boundary by a c 1.5m high stone wall with metal fencing beyond, both boundaries largely masked by a belt of trees within the cemetery. The west boundary is marked by a c 2m high stone wall with C20 metal fencing beyond. The north boundary is marked by a c 2m high wall with stone coping. The outer face of this wall is in stone and the inner face, to the cemetery, in red brick with blue brick band detail and shallow brick piers with decorative terracotta head detail. Both west and north boundaries are also marked by a line of line of trees within the cemetery.

The northern section of the cemetery, including the sites of the former chapels, lies on level ground, with the boundary wall standing on a low embankment in the north-west of the site. South and west of the chapel sites the ground falls to a lower level area adjoining the southern boundary. Before the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, opened in 1894, the south-west corner of the 1857 cemetery area adjoined a bend in the River Irwell. The Irwell now (2001) flows into the Canal to the east and Mode Wheel Locks on the Ship Canal are situated c 200m to the south of the cemetery. The surrounding area is primarily industrial with late-C20 development to the east, south, and west of the cemetery. School grounds adjoin the north cemetery boundary, to the west of Cemetery Road, with a late-C20 commercial property on the same boundary to the east. The M602 motorway runs east/west c 300m to the north of the cemetery with small areas of late-C19 and C20 housing to the south on Cemetery Road and Eccles New Road.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The entrance (listed grade II) dates from the 1887 extension and lies on the north boundary at the southern end of Cemetery Road where it widens to form a 30m diameter circular turning area. The entrance is marked by a carriage entrance flanked by two pedestrian entrances set between stone piers. The pedestrian entrances have C19 cast-iron gates with a pair of late-C20 metal gates in similar style to the carriage entrance. The gates are flanked by low stone concave walls with railings between stone piers with a tall conifer hedge behind. Each concave wall terminates at a C20 gate opening serving adjacent properties, to east and west of the turning area. North of these openings, c 1.8m high stone walls, set c 9m back from the pavement line, extend north for c 90m on the west side and c 60m on the east side of Cemetery Road. The areas to the road side of these walls are grassed and planted with occasional trees and enclosed by low stone wall stopped with c 1.8m high C19 cast-iron railings with spiked ball finials. Three panels of railings to the east side are now (2001) missing.

A single-storey stone lodge (listed grade II) of c 1866 is situated to the south-west of the cemetery entrance and is now (2001) in a derelict condition surrounded by security fencing. To the south-east of the entrance an embanked rectangular area marks the site of the 1887 cemetery office (now demolished) indicated on the 1896 OS map.

OTHER LAND

From the entrance a c 9m wide entrance road leads south for c 280m to terminate at the site of the former Anglican mortuary chapel, on an axis with the Cemetery Road approach. For 150m south of the lodge the road is generally tree-lined and was laid out as part of the 1887-8 extension works.

The north-west area of the cemetery is divided by into four quarters by straight paths laid parallel with, and at right angles to the entrance road. Perimeter paths to the west and north are set in c 16m from the boundary walls. Junctions at the centre of the south, west, and north perimeter paths of this area are marked by circular intersections with paths enclosing central planting beds. At the centre of this area path junctions are laid out on 45 degree splays enclosing a square planting bed. The central dividing paths are partly lined with trees. The smaller, north-east section of the cemetery is of similar layout, but with the eastern perimeter path laid close to the boundary and a single circular junction and planting bed at the centre. The eastern path is now (2001) mainly grassed over. The north-west and north-east sections were laid out as an extension to the cemetery in 1887-8 and the layout remains substantially as indicated on the 1896 OS map. Grave plots in these areas are laid out parallel with the main axis of the entrance road.

Some 230m south of the entrance two secondary roads lead off the entrance road, one to the east for c 50m to the site of the former Roman Catholic mortuary chapel and the other to the west for c 50m to the site of the former Nonconformist mortuary chapel. The chapel sites, together with that of the former Anglican mortuary chapel, are marked by grassed ovals planted with trees and shrubs.

From the Roman Catholic chapel site gently winding paths lead south, east-north-east, and north, the latter leading to the north-east section of the cemetery. The southern path curves to the south-west to follow a line roughly parallel to and inset c 80m from the irregular southern boundary, to a point c 220m south-west of the Roman Catholic chapel site. This path intersects with two paths leading south-east from the Anglican chapel site and, in the south-west of the cemetery, with two paths leading north to intersect with further winding paths leading north and north-east to the Anglican and Nonconformist chapel sites. In the south-east of the site the lines of paths, now grassed over, can be identified between areas of gravestones. In the south-west of the cemetery a path runs parallel to the west boundary and is linked to the chapel sites by a path leading east, 110m north of the south-west corner of the site. Some 85m north of this junction the boundary path turns north-north-east to a junction with the formal paths in the north-east section of the cemetery. The path layout in the south section of the cemetery remains largely as indicated on the 1896 OS map, with main paths as indicated on the 1863 Slater plan. Trees line short lengths of paths but are more generally in informal groups throughout the southern section. The orientation of grave plots in the southern section of the cemetery is generally on a north-north-west to south-south-east axis which adds to the informal character created by paths and trees.

Weaste Cemetery contains a number of monuments of historical and architectural interest, in particular adjacent to the chapel sites in the southern section. The most distinguished monument is situated c 25m south-west of the Nonconformist chapel site and is to Joseph Brotherton (1783-1857), Salford's first Member of Parliament and the first interment at the cemetery, on 7 January 1857 and prior to the official opening. The sandstone Brotherton Memorial (listed grade II) is in the Gothic Revival style with a square arcaded base below an open-arcaded gabled octagon surmounted by a tall gabled and crocketed spire. The memorial, erected by public subscription, was the subject of a design competition won by architects T Holmes and W Walker of Manchester. The carving and construction was carried out by Thomas Richard Williams of Manchester at a cost of 500 guineas and the memorial was described and illustrated in The Builder on 7 November 1857.

The Brotherton Memorial forms one of an important group of monuments which also includes the Ashworth Memorial of c 1869, the Rushden Memorial of c 1870, and the Burnett Memorial of c 1900-20 (all listed grade II).

Two further monuments of note lie c 10m north-east and c 30m south-east of the Anglican chapel site. The first is the Mark Addy Memorial (listed grade II) of c 1890 and comprises a polished granite obelisk on a stepped base. An inscription on the base records that Addy (1838-90) saved over fifty persons from drowning in the River Irwell. The second is the Charles Hallé Memorial (listed grade II) of c 1896; in ashlar stone, this takes the form of an elaborately carved pedestal memorial surmounted by a cross. A bronze plaque bears a relief profile portrait of the distinguished musician Sir Charles Hallé (1819-95) who founded the Hallé Orchestra in 1858 and was first Principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music in 1893.

REFERENCES

The Builder, 14 (17 May 1856), 280; (15 November 1856), 629; 15 (7 November 1857), 642-5

Salford Weekly News, 13 August 1887, 6; 19 May 1888, 4

Salford Reporter, 13 August 1887, 8; 19 May 1888, 4

Wood WH, History of Manchester and Salford (1890), 25

Pevsner N, The Buildings of England: Lancashire South (1969), 396

Salford City Reporter, 23 February 1973

Brooks C, Mortal Remains (1989), 89, 1661-7

Roberts J, English Heritage Register Review: Greater Manchester (1994)

Maps

Slater I, A New Plan of the City of Manchester and Borough of Salford, 1/4 of a mile to 1", 1863 (Salford Local History Library)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1848; 1938 edition

OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1896

Archival items

C19 photographs of chapels held at Salford Local History Library

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION

Weaste Cemetery is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Weaste Cemetery is a High Victorian cemetery (1857) laid out for a Burial Board.

* The cemetery structures were designed by J P Pritchett (1789-86), who had previously designed chapels at York Cemetery (1837, qv) St Andrew's Cemetery, Newcastle (1857, qv) and subsequently West Cemetery, Darlington (1858, qv).

* The cemetery has a formal design which exploits the falling ground to the south.

* The layout of the cemetery survives substantially intact, but all associated structures apart from the lodge (Pritchett, 1856) have been lost.

* The cemetery contains a good collection of C19 and early C20 funerary monuments commemorating leading citizens of Salford.

* The cemetery was extended in 1887-8 to a plan by the Borough Engineer, Arthur Jacob, and with planting by Henry Moore, head gardener at Peel Park who was also responsible for planting at Lancaster Cemetery (1855, qv) and Seedley Park, Salford (now Buile Hill Park, qv).

Description written: September 2001

Amended: October 2001

Edited: December 2009