Undercliffe Cemetery

In the early 1800s, Bradford's textile industry underwent rapid growth and with it Bradford's population, consequently there was pressure on housing then on burial ground space and this eventually became a health hazard. Partly in response to this situation the 'Bradford Cemetery Company' was set up and provisionally registered in 1849. Membership of the company included local notables Henry Brown, Robert Milligan, William Rand, Edward Ripley and Titus Salt. The land used for the cemetery had previously been agricultural land with a farmhouse on part of the Undercliffe Estate of the Hustler family. The plot was purchased in 1851 by John Horsfall and architect John Dale for the sum of £12,000 for landscaping, planting and building William Gay was appointed the first registrar for the cemetery Bradford Council at that stage could not justify the cost of adopting the cemetery. In 1980 the site was sold to a property developer and a lodge from Bowling Cemetery, Bradford was moved to the site and rebuilt at the southern entrance. In 1987 the management of the cemetery was given over to 'The Undercliffe Cemetery Charity' and in 1988 English Heritage added the cemetery to its Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest as grade II listed and upgraded it to II star the next year. ==Layout==

The cemetery is at a height of 210 m above sea level with an area of 26 acres (10 hectares) accommodating some 124,000 burials and about 23,000 marked graves. Communal graves known as 'company plots' are to be found on the southern side of the site where up to thirty coffins at a time were interred in one grave. ==Memorials==

The cemetery contains the graves and memorials of the rich and famous, local industrialists, ex-mayors, businessmen, professionals, mill workers, and their relatives. Listed buildings Six of the memorials in the cemetery have listed building status and all are in good condition except for the Swithin Anderton monument: • Mawson Monument (1889), a monument to William Mawson, architect partner of Henry Lockwood – a granite obelisk on a pedestal. • Swithin Anderton Monument (1860), a Scott Monument inspired memorial to Swithin Anderton, JP and family, signed I S L Thornton. • Illingworth Mausoleum (~1860), a grey granite mausoleum of the Illingworth family, owners of Whetley Mills on Thornton Road, in the style of an Egyptian mastaba. • Behrens Monument (1889), a monument in renaissance style to Sir Jacob Behrens and family. • Miles Moulson Monument (~1856) a monumental sculpture to the Moulson family of Horton by John Throp, sculptor. Miles Moulson himself was a monumental mason. • Sir Anthony Gadie (1868–1948), military officer, mayor of Bradford, and MP. • William Gay (1814–1893) Landscape gardener, surveyor, and first registrar of Undercliffe Cemetery. • Stafford Heginbotham (1933–1995), business owner and former chairman of Bradford City A.F.C. • Thomas Hill (1825–1891), mayor of Bradford. • Sir Isaac Holden, bart (1807–1897), inventor and manufacturer. • Robert Milligan (1786–1862), Bradford's first mayor and Liberal MP. • Sir Henry Mitchell (1824–1898), founder of the Technical School, mayor, and first Freeman of the city. • Sir Henry Ripley, bart. (1813–1882), industrialist and MP. • Alfred Angas Scott (1875–1923), motorcycle designer, inventor, and founder of The Scott Motorcycle Company. • Julia Varley (1871–1952), trade unionist and suffragette. War Memorial Close to the car park at the southern entrance onto Undercliffe Lane is a war memorial in the form of Cross of Sacrifice to those who died in the First and Second World Wars. Behind the Cross of Sacrifice a low kerb memorial lists Commonwealth service personnel buried in the cemetery whose graves could not be marked by headstones. In all, 135 Commonwealth service personnel – 92 from the First and 43 from the Second World War – are buried here. Many of the former were burials from the Bradford War Hospital. ==The Undercliffe Cemetery Conservation Area==

After the opening of Undercliffe cemetery several surrounding properties were built on a speculative basis; a row of houses on Undercliffe Lane known as Guy's Cliffe and properties on Undercliffe Old Road named Westfield Crescent and West View—all these properties now constitute the Undercliffe Cemetery Conservation Area (1984), one of nearly 60 such areas in Bradford. ==The Undercliffe Cemetery Charity==

The site is owned by the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council but is operated and maintained by the 'Undercliffe Cemetery Charity' and their volunteers, and it is still an operational cemetery with ongoing burials. Approximately 30 monuments are cleaned each year to remove dirt and graffiti. ==Cultural references==

The cemetery was used as a location in the films Billy Liar (1963), L.A. Without a Map (1998), and King Girl (TV 1998). It was also used as a location in the television series Peaky Blinders (2013). Undercliffe Cemetery was photographed by pioneering Victorian documentary photographer Samuel Smith and more recently has been a subject for anaglyph 3D photography. ==See also==