Sunday 10 September, 12.30 pm to 16:00 FREE entry.
Halifax’s General Cemetery is the last resting place of nearly 20,000 past local residents and others from the 1840s to 1963. These include Mill owners, Chartists, Waterloo Soldiers, Great War fatalities, Nurses, nonconformist clergy, organ builders, and even murder victims.
This year there will be a focus on Sir Francis Crossley and his family, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1817. The cemetery also celebrates the 175th anniversary of its first burials in 1842, and the oldest tombstone will be highlighted.
Digital Family History information concerning all the cemetery’s burials will be available to consult. And the remarkable new Garden, which has won awards from Yorkshire in Bloom, will be open for you to stroll in at leisure. Light refreshments will be available.
The Friends of Lister Lane Cemetery was formed in 1999. In collaboration with Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, the volunteers attempt to promote the upkeep and public profile of the site. In 2015, the Cemetery was awarded a Significant Cemetery in Europe status by the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe.
The Halifax General Cemetery, Lister Lane, was opened in 1841. Today, the Cemetery has Grade II listed status and has many interesting monuments, particularly the Gothic spires and obelisks along the main pathway.
The Cemetery has been recognised as a Significant Cemetery in Europe, one of only 13 in the UK, putting it alongside such famous cemeteries as Highgate in London.
Lister Lane Cemetery covers three acres of land, laid out around a now derelict neo-classical chapel and a raised terrace with views across Halifax to Beacon Hill.
The Cemetery is open to the public on Wednesdays from 10am – 3.30pm and most Sundays (weather permitting) from 10am – 12pm when the Friends of the Cemetery are working there.