ATHERTON CEMETERY 

WRITTEN BY THOMAS McGRATH ESPECIALLY FOR THE HOWE BRIDGE HERITAGE TRAIL, 

FURTHER INFORMATION CAN BE ACCESSED FROM THE " FRIENDS OF ATHERTON CEMETERY " WEBSITE AND ALSO DURING THE ORGANISED TOURS OF THE CEMETERY 

 

Atherton Cemetery was formally opened in 1857. Plans had been drawn up for a public cemetery from 1855 after the 1852 Burial Act required the Board of Health of local authorities across the country to establish purpose-made, landscaped cemeteries. The graveyards around churches and chapels in Atherton were full, and other municipal cemeteries were opened in neighbouring towns such as Wigan and Leigh around the same time. The cemetery is located on Leigh Road, a short distance from the town centre on land which once belonged Crab Brow Farm. It was purchased by the Atherton Cemetery Board from Lord Lilford for £400 (over £33,000 in today’s money). The site of the cemetery has been enlarged several times since its foundation.

Atherton cemetery had separate burial plots for different denominations, so ‘conformists’ (Church of England Protestants) would not be buried with ‘non-conformists’ (e.g. Roman Catholics etc). A common feature of Victorian cemeteries are the mortuary chapels and a lodge or gatehouse. Fortunately, both chapels and the lodge survive at Atherton. They were designed by the architect Thomas D. Barry and built by Mr Ludd of Liverpool.

 

The Lodge

The Lodge was built between 1855-57 at the same time the cemetery was developed. It was designed by Barry and built of brick in an English Garden wall style with stone quoins for decoration. It features a steeply pitched slated roof and lancet windows. As well as being a dwelling there was a large room inside where the members of the Cemetery Board could meet.

Some of the cemetery superintendents in the nineteenth century were Richard Hope, James Eckersley and Charles Brown. The Lodge is still a private dwelling house today, although the caretaking of the cemetery is under the responsibility of Wigan Council and no longer the occupiers of the Lodge.

The Mortuary Chapels

The two mortuary chapels are the real hidden gems of Atherton cemetery and they are described as “very Hansel and Gretel” by architectural historians Richard Pollard and Nikolaus Pevsner.

There are two Chapels, the conformist chapel with the steeple and the non-conformist Chapel which has a bell tower. They would have been a place where family members and friends could offer their final prayers to the deceased and they were used for funeral services. They were last used in the 1970s.

The Chapels are built of rock-faced stone and have all the adornments of a Gothic architecture which was so popular in the mid-nineteenth century. It is quite amazing how much time and effort Thomas D. Barry put into his designs and the craftsmen who made them a reality. It is also interesting to notice that the conformist chapel is far more richly decorated than its plainer neighbour; which had to cater to all the other Christian denominations.

 

Gravestones & Burials

The Leigh Chronicle from 1860 printed a notice of the cemetery opening times and rules. The cemetery was open Monday – Saturday 8am until sunset and on Sunday’s it was open from 4pm until sunset.For burials, at least 48 hours notice had to be given to the Lodge and three days notice given for vaults or brick lined graves. All interments in consecrated ground were conducted at 4pm in Autumn/Winter and 6pm in Spring/Summer Monday to Saturday and any other arrangement again required prior notice.

Many of Atherton’s industrial elites are buried in the cemetery, including mill owners and mine owners, such as the Fletcher and Burrows families, as well as inventors such as Edward Ormerod and the ordinary citizens of Atherton in bygone years.