Allerton Cemetery was designed by the City Engineer John A. Brodie and listed as “a good example of a large Edwardian Cemetery (1909) for a provincial city” https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001636.
It’s also unusual in having all three of its denominational mortuary chapels still standing.
These were for Roman Catholic, Anglican, and general Nonconformist burials and are pretty little gothic places in red sandstone with steeples.
They are all of similar design, with the largest central Anglican chapel flanked by the two smaller ones.
The chapels fell out of use sometime after 1975 when a new crematorium was built nearby.
I visited the two smaller chapels last year, but the Anglican one wasn’t accessible without a messy climb which was not really worth it.
This changed recently when I was given a tip-off by a guy I once lent a puncture repair kit to, so was able to complete the trio.
All visits were early in the morning, with externals taken not long after sunrise, which is why everything is a bit gloomy.
One thing I wasn’t expecting when prowling around in the dark is that many of the graves have twinkling lights which makes the whole cemetery seem like a fairyland (Everton Cemetery is the same).
On one occasion I thought someone dressed in red was approaching waving a little torch - it turned out to be one of those large red party balloons with a metallic finish, partly deflated and bouncing gently along reflecting the grave lights.
Roman Catholic. The windows of this one are mostly bricked up, with only the top half of the rose above the western entrance open, although there are couple of internal windows which still have glass.
Up the ladders to check out the spire. The pigeon perched near the top was strangely reluctant to move - eventually it hopped onto my shoulder as I climbed up and we examined the empty spire together. No picture of the inside of this but it’s the same as the others.
Nonconformist. The outside windows are totally bricked up and the place seems to have been converted into a plumbing store.
Up the ladders to the spire.
Anglican. This is the only one with most of the stained glass intact, and also the only one for which I could find any internal images.
See the Friends Of Allerton Cemetery website for pictures taken in 2016 in better light http://friendsofallertoncemetery.com/?page_id=50010.
It’s also unusual in having all three of its denominational mortuary chapels still standing.
These were for Roman Catholic, Anglican, and general Nonconformist burials and are pretty little gothic places in red sandstone with steeples.
They are all of similar design, with the largest central Anglican chapel flanked by the two smaller ones.
The chapels fell out of use sometime after 1975 when a new crematorium was built nearby.
I visited the two smaller chapels last year, but the Anglican one wasn’t accessible without a messy climb which was not really worth it.
This changed recently when I was given a tip-off by a guy I once lent a puncture repair kit to, so was able to complete the trio.
All visits were early in the morning, with externals taken not long after sunrise, which is why everything is a bit gloomy.
One thing I wasn’t expecting when prowling around in the dark is that many of the graves have twinkling lights which makes the whole cemetery seem like a fairyland (Everton Cemetery is the same).
On one occasion I thought someone dressed in red was approaching waving a little torch - it turned out to be one of those large red party balloons with a metallic finish, partly deflated and bouncing gently along reflecting the grave lights.
Roman Catholic. The windows of this one are mostly bricked up, with only the top half of the rose above the western entrance open, although there are couple of internal windows which still have glass.
Up the ladders to check out the spire. The pigeon perched near the top was strangely reluctant to move - eventually it hopped onto my shoulder as I climbed up and we examined the empty spire together. No picture of the inside of this but it’s the same as the others.
Nonconformist. The outside windows are totally bricked up and the place seems to have been converted into a plumbing store.
Up the ladders to the spire.
Anglican. This is the only one with most of the stained glass intact, and also the only one for which I could find any internal images.
See the Friends Of Allerton Cemetery website for pictures taken in 2016 in better light http://friendsofallertoncemetery.com/?page_id=50010.
