The Grade 2 listed Weaste Cemetery was the first municipal graveyard in Salford, opened in 1857 when the Victorians knew how to do cemeteries, as the Weaste Cemetery website* notes…
"In the Victorian age cemeteries were considered to be amenities like parks and gardens and were usually designed in a similar way. Weaste Cemetery was no exception" it states "The cemetery once boasted four chapels and a glazed summer house indicating that the intention was to offer a beautiful landscaped garden of rest where the visitor could escape the bustle of city life.
"The beautiful design" it adds "made Weaste Cemetery the most desirable final resting-place for well to do Mancunians and Salfordians as is evidenced by the large ornate monuments in 'Rich man's plot'…"
These ornate monuments and a lot more will be explored as part of a free Friends of Salford Cemeteries Trust tour on Easter Sunday, beginning at 11am and lasting ninety minutes.
The tour includes the last resting places of well known Salford and Manchester people from the Victorian age, including Sir Charles Halle, founder of the Halle Orchestra, Joseph Brotherton, Salford's first MP and veggie pioneer, and Mark Addy, Salford hero who saved over fifty drowning people from the River Irwell before getting a pub named after him.
Weaste Cemetery is a classic slice of Salford heritage – there aren't many guided tours around the place and this is a chance not to be missed.
Tour of Weaste Cemetery
Easter Sunday 11am Free
Weaste Cemetery
Cemetery Road, off Eccles New Road, Weaste.
Meet at 11 am at the War Memorial at the end of the main drive.
Just turn up, no need to book.
Car parking available on the main drive.
The tour is mainly on footpaths, but there are no toilets at the cemetery.
* For further details see the Weaste Cemetery Heritage Trail website – click here