Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Flaybrick Memorial Gardens
The remains of the spire between the former Church of England and Nonconformist chapels
Details
Established	1864
Location	Birkenhead
Country	England
Coordinates	53°24′00″N 3°03′54″W / 53.400°N 3.065°W / 53.400; -3.065
Type	Multi-denominational, Public
Style	Gothic Revival
Owned by	Wirral Council
Size	26 acres (110,000 m2)
No. of interments	Over 100,000[1]
Website	Flaybrick Memorial Gardens official site
Find a Grave	Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Flaybrick Memorial Gardens is a memorial garden, formerly a municipal cemetery called Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The cemetery has been designated a conservation area by Wirral Borough Council, which owns the site.

In the 1840s, Joseph Paxton was approached to design a large municipal cemetery for the expanding township of Birkenhead, but because of a recession and a subsequent decrease in the population, the plan went no further.^[2] By the 1860s, a boom made the provision of a new cemetery a priority. A competition was held for the design which was won by Edward Kemp,^[2] a pupil of Paxton's and Curator of Birkenhead Park. Kemp was assisted by Edward Mills, a prominent Birkenhead surveyor from Hamilton Square, and Messrs Lucy and Littler, architects of Liverpool.^[2] The general contractor was William Rimmer of Bidston Hall, with John Middlehurst of St. Helens the contractor for buildings.^[3] The site chosen was Flaybrick Hill, a prominent location overlooked by Bidston Hill. Originally 16.5 acres (6.7 ha) were purchased, but by the 1890s the site was extended to 26 acres (11 ha).^[2]

The cemetery was officially opened 30 May 1864 and named Birkenhead Cemetery, and the site originally had three separate denominational chapels.^[2] The Roman Catholic chapel was demolished in 1971 and a memorial wall has been erected on its site. The remaining two chapels, for Nonconformists and the Church of England, were last used in 1975.^[2] Most of the buildings are now in a considerable state of dereliction. The Registrar's office and Sexton's Lodge are now privately owned.^[2]

The cemetery contains the war graves of 222 Commonwealth service personnel of both World Wars,^[4] as well as one of a Russian Navy officer of World War I.^[5] Other interments include James Taylor Cochran, who built the Resurgam; Sir William Jackson; Arthur Thomas Doodson; Mary Ann Mercer; Isaac Roberts;^[1] and Edmund Knight and Hugh Singleton, both in turn Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury.^[6]

The cemetery was designated as a conservation area in 1990.^[7] In 1995, Flaybrick Cemetery was renamed Flaybrick Memorial Gardens and an arboretum was created. Mature specimen trees are prominent throughout the cemetery, including Cut-leaf Beech, Silver Lime, Caucasian Lime, London Plane and Monkey-puzzle.^[7] A wildlife-friendly approach to the management of the Memorial Gardens is carried out by a designated ranger.

• Listed buildings in Birkenhead

• Brocklebank, Ralph T. (2003). Birkenhead: An Illustrated History. ISBN 1859833500.
• Dutton, Roy (2018). Flaybrick Hill Cemetery. ISBN 978-0992826550.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flaybrick Memorial Gardens.

• "Flaybrick Cemetery". Wirral History. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017.
• "Wirral Archives".