The history of Willow Grove Cemetery
By Maureen Fahey - Stockport Heritage Trust
Willow Grove Cemetery in South Reddish was established by a private company in 1877 to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding population of the township.
Built on land purchased from Joseph Marsland, a wealthy coal merchant, it eventually became the final resting place of more than 35,000 people, ranging from wealthy industrialists to paupers and nameless infants.
It is said that death is the great leveller but the class divide remained evident even thereafter, with magnificent marble edifices erected to mark the graves of the prosperous and those at the other end of the scale buried with strangers in unmarked communal plots, their families too poor to afford to give them a private burial.
Extensive research has revealed a distinct pattern of interments at Willow Grove, with the graves of the affluent sited on the perimeter of each individual section and those of the less well to do closer together, towards the centre.
Paupers' and public graves, originally owned by the local Burial Board and now by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, are situated around the perimeter of the grounds, usually right against the boundary fence.
While people at the upper end of the social scale left elaborate and imposing evidence of their perceived superiority on display for posterity, those at the bottom could leave no such legacy as, in most cases, marking of public graves was prohibited and many of the plots were simply grassed over, invisible, anonymous and largely forgotten.
To date, some 750 pauper burials have been located in Willow Grove and in 1931, one such plot received six adults and twenty eight babies and children over a period of just six months.
The final ignominy for the stillborn or short-lived infants who occupy these public graves was that they were denied even the dignity of a funeral service. Thankfully, today's society is more enlightened.
The opening of Stockport Crematorium in the 1930s led to a decline in the number of traditional burials and Willow Grove began to show signs of neglect as its revenue decreased.
By the 1960s, it was in poor condition, despite pressure on the Willow Grove Cemetery Company from the grave owners and Stockport Council to implement much-needed improvements.
The Council took ownership of the cemetery in 1973 and gradually restored it but the improvements were short-lived and the grounds deteriorated even further over the next thirty years.
In 2003, the Friends of Stockport Cemeteries was established, and has since worked closely with SMBC to clear weeds and litter and reinstate numerous memorials.
By 2007, FOSC had secured external funding to enable them to install new gates, seating and waste bins and to carry out planting and landscaping, together with other environmental improvements for the benefit of the local wildlife.
A heritage trail through this once desolate and forbidding landscape now provides an insight to the area's history and some of its characters, while a military trail reveals a wealth of information about those who served in the first and second world wars.
Willow Grove Cemetery has been transformed from its former state of neglect and dereliction to a beautiful and tranquil haven for both visitors and wildlife. Anyone interested in helping to carry forward the work done to date is welcome to join a small group of volunteers from FOSC on Wednesday afternoons, from 1pm to 2pm. Please contact Sheila Robins on 07943 350055 or by e mail at [email protected] for further details.
(On the 7th May, FOSC will be joining forces with Chris Lightfoot's Greenspace Volunteers for a special task day at Willow Grove, to mark the VE Day anniversary in honour of the soldiers from both World Wars who are buried there. All are welcome to join them between 10am and 1pm.)
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Those interested in learning more about Stockport's heritage can visit the heritage centre Tuesday 11am – 2pm and Saturday 10.30 – 2pm. The centre is situated inside St. Mary's Parish Church, Market Place, on the left hand side past the cafe.
The heritage trust also opens the former courthouse and dungeon to the public on the second Saturday of every month, from 10.30am until 3.30pm, or when the last visitor leaves.
The trust's website can be found HERE
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