Manchester General Cemetery Rochdale Road Harpurhey

There's something very evocative about Manchester General Cemetery in Harpurhey. On the little hill above the steep drop to the River Irk valley the tombs clump and gather like a mini-Mancunian Highgate Cemetery. The gateway and side chapels from the 1830s were the finest neo-Greek buildings in the Manchester area; as good as the Art Gallery, as austerely powerful and exquisitely modelled as The Oratory in Liverpool. This magnificent set piece architecture by Moffatt would now be a source of pride for North Manchester, somewhere for people to visit - instead we have a low wall where they once stood. [Manchester Confidential].

MANCHESTER GENERAL CEMETERY The chapel and grounds for interment at Collyhurst, designated the Manchester General Cemetery, was formally opened yesterday morning.   …. The cemetery is situate at the left side of the entrance to the village of Harpurhey. The principal entrance to the grounds is through a lofty carriage gateway in the centre. There on each side a smaller gate, from which ornamental parapet walls extend right and left and form the front enclosure. Just inside the entrance are the chapel on the left side, and the registrar's house on the right, erected with a strict regard uniformity of design, and each having a portico of four Ionic columns, after the chaste and simple example of the temple of Theseus on the river Ilyssus at Athens. These columns have their bases resting the parapet walls. There is another portico of two columns, with centre of the same order and example at the end of each of these buildings facing the grounds. The style is Grecian, and the design is by the architect of the Wakefield Exchange, Mr. W. L. Moffatt, of Doncaster. The chapel is 41 feet long by 26 feet inside, and finished also the Grecian style – the ceiling being panelled, and simply but effectively moulded. Each window and door is surrounded by an ornamental frame-work, similar to the outside, quite plain. The pulpit, or reading-desk, partakes of the same simplicity of style. Beneath the whole extent of the chapel are catacombs, or burial vaults, with access under the east portico. The registrar's house provides very comfortable accommodation for a family, and the principal room commands a complete view of the cemetery. Neither the house nor the chapel are, however yet completed. The grounds, which are beautifully' laid out and ornamented with shrubs, flowers, etc comprise an area of at least eleven acres. One-half of the space is an oblong square, and has a gentle incline downwards from the entrance; at the termination of the slope there are sixty-two spacious vaults and a handsome mausoleum in four compartments. The remaining portion the space is of an oval form gradually rising towards the centre. The whole is well enclosed with lofty brick walls. We understand the land was purchased in May 1836, and the preparations commenced in the following September. The estimated cost of the undertaking is £12,000. There are two thousand £10 shareholders, who have been called upon to the extent only of £7-10s per share. [Manchester Courier 2 September 1837 page 2]

MANCHESTER GENERAL CEMETERY AT HARPURHEY - In May last the company for the establishment of this concern purchased a large plot of land, adjoining the Rochdale Road. at the south entrance of the village of Harpurhey, just beyond the residence of Jonathan Andrew, Esq. This land, which comprises of about eleven acres, is of irregular form, extending in width, at Its farthest boundary, to the low road to Blackley, where It overhangs road at a considerable height. The land is here and there gently undulating, and is bordered by parterres of plants, flowers, and shrubs. In one place a clump of trees affords an agreeable shade, and the walks are diversified with much taste and judgment.  The entrance to the cemetery is from the Rochdale Road. by a centre carriage gateway of simple architecture, with side gates for pedestrians on each side of which extend ornamental parapet walls right and left, forming altogether a neat, chaste, ornamental pile. To the left of the entrance and close by, stands the chapel or sacristy, a neat building, after the chaste and simple style of the Temple of Theseus, on the Ilyssus at Athens. It has a neat portico of four Ionic columns, the bases resting on the parapet walls. At the other end, another portico of two Ionic columns, with antæ of the same order. The design is highly creditable to the adoption of the architect, Mr. W. R. Moffatt, of Doncaster, who, we believe, furnished the design the Wakefield Exchange. To the right of the gateway stands another building, similar In every respect as to external form and architecture, which is to form the residence of the registrar, with an office for registration, and rooms for the reception of the committee, etc. The whole, with the gateway, forms a very neat, chaste. architectural pile, suited to the solemn purposes of the Institution. In the centre of the ground are 62 spacious and dry vaults with birch walls; and adjoining them are four catacombs of stone, built in the most substantial manner. The entrance buildings are not quite finished: but it having been determined to open the ground for interments on the 1st September, the committee of management invited the shareholders and their friends to assemble on Friday morning in Oldham Street, to go thence in procession to the Cemetery. After partaking of refreshment at the house of Mr Frost. the shareholders and their friends, including a number of ladles, took their seats in the various vehicles, coaches, omnibuses etc, which had been provided for their accommodation to the number of nineteen or twenty, and proceeded to Harpurhey. (report continues with opening ceremony). Manchester Guardian 6 September 1837 page 2]

Reference    Manchester Courier 2 September 1837 page 2
Reference    Manchester Guardian 6 September 1837 page 2