Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery
Uncovering histories, caring for the cemetery, shaping future legacies.
Public cemetery covering an area of 6.5 hectares. It was established in 1845 and was one of the earliest publicly funded cemeteries in England.
In 1842 the Leeds Burial Act allowed Leeds Corporation to levy rates for the interment of the dead, a pioneering venture in England at this time (Burt & Grady 1994).
Disposal of the dead had become an urgent issue as the population of Leeds almost trebled in the first half of the C19.
Two new cemeteries were to be provided in the most rapidly expanding areas: Burmantofts or Beckett Street Cemetery (qv), for the township of Leeds, and Woodhouse Hill Cemetery, for the township of Hunslet (White 1857-8).
Enlarged image of the Mortuary Chapel in the Consecrated Section of what the map refers to as Leeds Burial Ground on Ordinance Survey Town map 1840s-1860s.
It might be possible that the creator of this drawing on the map was able to go into so much detail because they were privy to the plans and drawings which had been created and existed at the time of establishing the cemetery (opened 1845) to allow the Corporation to allocate the funding for the necessary building works.
It is interesting to see the level of detail internally including what appears to be the pews and the pulpit and internal steps leading to the roof space.
On later OS maps the chapel outline is drawn as a rectangle block with a smaller square entrance, as shown on the Ordinance Survey Map of 1908 which refers to the Cemetery as Leeds Corporation Cemetery.
PIC 3 PIC 4
The map again depicts the shape and outline of the two chapels.
In April 1844 Robert D Chantrell (1793-1872) and Thomas Shaw, local architects (Linstrum 1978), were commissioned to design the walls and buildings for Hunslet Cemetery: two lodges and a large building incorporating two mortuary chapels, a Nonconformist chapel to the north and an Anglican chapel to the south (Barnard Notes 2003). Woodhouse Hill Cemetery (as originally named) opened on 19th June 1845, with roughly ten acres of ground provided at a cost of about £6000 (White 1894).
Inspiration for the artist impression paintings has been taken from Hunslet Cemetery Chapels which are still standing and designed by same Architects. Information following from Historic England as Hunslet Old Cemetery is Grade II Listed (Image from Geograph Britain and Ireland – available for reuse under relevant licence)
The chapels of the 1845 cemetery, by Chantrell & Shaw, followed the usual practice of the time with an Anglican chapel at one end (south, i.e. left in this view) and nonconformist at the other. Now grade II listed (list entry 1375178).
The cemetery has one building split into two chapels, with two separate entrances one for Anglicans and the other for nonconformists.
Side view photo (taken by Jeanette) used as inspiration for what one of our Mortuary Chapels might have looked like in the 1900s. It is possible to see in places how light in colour the original stone may have been when the building was first erected.
The carved faces on the corbels around the building are called Groteques (usually a word used to describe something that is hideous, ugly and disgusting) and some were thought to have been used for the purpose of teaching biblical lessons at a time when many people did not read, or to ward off evil spirits and protect the people inside the building. The ones on this building look more humourous and friendly than fearsome! I am assuming that our chapels had similar decorative elements.
They are almost mocking the visitors – look at the one poking his tongue out! Not so sure evil spirits would be frightened off by that!
Picture kindly sent by Park Ranger Heather. Not sure if Beckett Street chapels would have been so well decorated but perhaps they were whitewashed inside when they were first built and it gives us an idea.
The cemetery's two chapels were demolished in the late 1960s and by 1984 the cemetery was under threat of clearance by the city council.
The West Yorkshire Archive have looked over their catalogues but sadly cannot find much about the mortuary chapels at Beckett Street Cemetery. Unfortunately, they pre-date the building control scheme which is often the easiest way to find plans of buildings.No success in finding information from Historic England, Leeds Libraries, YEP archives, Leodis, Arial Photography sites, Burmantofts History facebook photographic pages, Thoresby archives and various other sites viewed in the past 12 months.
It may be that the chapels were not considered interesting enough to be of historical significance and that the documents relating to them from so long ago are lost.
THE CEMETERY LODGESWalter Samuel Braithwaite was responsible for the design of the two Lodges on the site.
The following entyr was found on the website - A Dictionary of MethodismLeeds architect, the son of James Ellis Braithwaite, a Leeds builder, was born in Leeds on 6 January 1854 and educated at Darley Street WM Day School. Articled to Thomas Ambler, he then entered the office of John Winn & Co, builder, to gain practical experience of the building trade, before returning to Ambler as his assistant. He began his architectural practice in 1880. A member of the MNC, he attended Woodhouse Lane chapel and was involved in its musical life, being an organist and also lecturing on musical topics. He was the architect of some of their Leeds chapels, including Hall Lane MNC (1897-8) and Trinity UM, Tempest Road (1906-7) as well as Victoria Road UMFC (1885-6). He undertook work for the Hepworth family (also members at Woodhouse Lane) and designed the Whitehall Road printimg works for the Leeds UMFC Petty family. From 1891 he was also architect to the Leeds School Board and also architect for the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society's Albion Street premises. An early exponent of cremation he designed the Lawnswood Crematorium, Leeds, in 1905 which was the first in Great Britain to use gas to cremate the bodies.
We strive to document all of our sources. If you have something to add, please let us know.
