Church of England chapel at the centre of the cemetery
Historic England
Southern Cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester is the largest municipal cemetery in the United Kingdom, and the second-largest in Europe. Three miles (4.8 km) south of the city centre, it is owned and administered by Manchester City Council. Opened in 1879, its grounds contain six Grade II listed buildingsStructure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection., four of them chapels;[1] the cemetery itself is also Grade II listed.[2]
Among the graves of historical interest are those of Sir John Alcock (1892–1919), pilot of the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight, the artist L. S. Lowry (1887–1976), a survivor of the Charge of the Heavy Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War, Manchester’s first multi-millionaire and philanthropist Sir John RylandsJohn Rylands (1801–1888) was an English entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the owner of the largest textile manufacturing concern in the United Kingdom, and Manchester’s first multi-millionaire. (1801–1888), and the entertainer Wilfred Pickles (1904–1978).[2]
History
The cemetery was originally laid out on a 40-hectare (99 acres) plot of land that cost Manchester Corporation £38,340 in 1872.[2] Its cemetery buildings were designed by architect H. J. Paull and its layout attributed to the city surveyor, James Gascoigne Lynde.[2]
Mortuary chapels were erected for Anglicans, Nonconformists, and Roman Catholics, linked by an elliptical drive, with a Jewish chapel at the west corner of the site. The site was expanded by the purchase of 36 hectares (89 acres) in 1926, the first section of which opened in 1943. Some of the 1926 purchase has been developed for housing, and some is occupied by allotments.[2]
War memorials
Southern Cemetery contains two memorials commemorating the fallen in two world wars. The First World War memorial is located on a triangular plot on the south side of the cemetery, near the main entrance on Barlow Moor Road. It features a stone Cross of Sacrifice and a screen wall bearing the names of the fallen, with the inscription “Their name liveth for evermore”.[3]
War graves
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) register and maintain the war graves of 775 Commonwealth service personnel (including one unidentified) of the First World War and 475 (including 3 unidentified) of the Second. Most of the graves are scattered around the cemetery, but others are clustered around the two war memorials. Those graves are not marked individually, instead each plot has a wall bearing the names of those buried there.[4]