WINDHILL WESLEYAN
FRONT
BURIAL GROUND
The Burial Ground beside Windhill's Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – “The Mission” – must have been established
shortly after construction of the buildings commenced in 1834.
As the first interment took place in November 1835, the first plots were probably offered for sale earlier that year.
Plot A1 would likely have been sold first.
The cemetery, which is known as the Front Burial Ground in official records,
saw its first burial on 25 November 1835 in A3. It remained open until it was full in 1855.
Burials continued in existing graves, with the last interment taking place on 31 May 1918 in A8.
The cemetery (and adjacent Mission) was sold (for £5805) in 1963 to Shipley UDC and is now owned by Bradford MBC,
who are responsible for its upkeep. When this writer began studying the cemetery in the mid 2000s,
it was badly overgrown; ivy roots were embedded in much of the stonework; several gravestones were
displaced and broken and daubed with graffiti; there were large amounts of litter. In 2009 the Burial Ground
was cleared of most vegetation, apart from some trees. However, over the next 11 years there was no maintenance
and the jungle grew back with a vengeance. In 2020/2021 the area was once again cleared, with two mature trees,
a lime and a sycamore, left standing. The disturbance revealed one stone (C10) that had hitherto been buried:
as 40% of the plots have no visible gravestone, there may well be others awaiting excavation.
The Council's Bereavement Service keeps an Interment Book, which includes the plans of the Front Ground and the defunct Lower Ground,
together with the burials they contain, or contained. According to a Council official, there are no Grave Books
that list the ownership and occupants of each grave.
The Front Burial Ground is 27m long with an average width of 14m, giving an area of
378 m2 or 4070 ft2.
These dimensions were obtained by tape measure and are larger than those found on the official Plan and
on the 1:500 OS Plan of 1891. When the surrounding area was redeveloped in the 1950s, new
boundary walls were constructed and it is possible that small amounts of land were
gained or lost. On the east and west sides, the new walls were built on top of the
original construction, which can still be seen in places.
The grid shown below was drawn up using the notation on the official plan for the cemetery,
which is bound with the Interment Book and can be viewed here:
"Plan of,
and References to, the Front Burial Ground".
The actual layout of the graves appears to follow this grid fairly closely.
Each grave is a nominal 88” x 36” and would have been dug using the official Plan as a guide, plus a tape measure.
Some graves appear to straddle two plots, as with D5, D9, F4, G4 and (possibly) H4,
and these are assumed to be double graves.
It is not known why the notation for Row I, against the south wall, departs from the pattern of the other rows.
According to the official Plan, the first six plots of Row I were unallocated.
In fact, there are two small gravestones in this section, at I4 and IM, dedicated to Fell and Whatmough respectively.
According to the Interment Book, these were originally in a Lower Burial Ground, located at Rows 11/1 and 4/2 respectively.
This is shown on a plan entitled
"Plan of, and References to, the Lower Burial Ground”,
which confirms that these two graves were previously located on a strip of ground containing a total of
115 graves in 27 rows.
It has not been established exactly how this Plan relates to what can be seen on the ground.
However, it is likely that this Lower Ground was located below the present cemetery,
between its western wall and the Bradford Canal. As it was some 60 metres long,
it must have extended northwards alongside the Wesleyan Mission. In 1865, some of this land would have disappeared
when a newer, much larger, Mission was constructed. It may be significant that there were no interments in the
Lower Burial Ground after 1860, even though there was still space. It is speculated that two graves,
those of Fell and Whatmough, were relocated around this time to empty plots in the Front Burial Ground.
The plan of the Front Burial Ground (see below) was drawn up in 2010 and edited in 2021.
Transcriptions of the visible headstones can be viewed by clicking a Name from the list on the right.
The fonts approximate to those used by the masons who carved the stones.
Where possible, the original layout, spacing, punctuation and spelling have been preserved.
Photographs of each stone can be viewed by clicking its plot number from the same list.
Also:
The photographs, plus some general views, can also be accessed here.
Also:
A TABLE based on the Interment Book, plus data from surveys in 2010 and 2021.
It should be noted that this database includes:
(1) a large number of burials that are listed in the Interment Book, but have no visible grave and
(2) some burials that are not noted on the gravestones, but are listed in the Interment Book and
(3) some names that are noted on the stones, but not listed in the Interment Book.
Also:
Additional NOTES
on the burials (pop-up window).
A
sample PAGE from the Interment Book (for 1838).
The Calverley Info website contains most of the
transcripted data from the Interment Book, including the Lower Ground burials.
click:
Name for transcript / Plot for photo
Name ~ Plot
Name ~ Plot
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