{"id":243755,"date":"2025-07-06T22:37:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T22:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/243755\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T22:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T22:37:14","slug":"its-a-cemetery-that-is-full-of-life-and-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/243755\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It\u2019s a cemetery that is full of life and inspiration’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Blitz memorial in the heart of the historic cemetery is now being revamped<\/p>\n

14:24, 06 Jul 2025Updated 15:45, 06 Jul 2025<\/p>\n

\"TomTom and Cathie Bradburn with Alan Sheldon of Liverpool Council alongside Linda McDermott at Anfield Cemetery (Colin Lane)<\/p>\n

There is one site in Liverpool that links T.J. Hughes, Joe Fagan and Michael Whitty, the founder of the Liverpool Daily Post – they are all buried at Anfield<\/a> Cemetery. The Grade II listed cemetery on Priory Road is roughly 110 acres with a French design by Edward Kemp.<\/p>\n

Opened in 1863, the cemetery has three chapels and entrances, designed by the Liverpool architects Lucy and Littler. Back when it was known as the Liverpool Corporation, the city council built a Blitz memorial at a cost of \u00a34,400 in 1951.<\/p>\n

It was proposed by Alderman Alfred Ernest Shennan who also designed the Abbey Cinema in Wavertree<\/a>. After more than 70 years in situ, deterioration meant the popular viewing point was cordoned off from the public.<\/p>\n

Stone tiles that were put in place have now been displaced with signs telling visitors they are unable to go near. When it was first built, the memorial read: \u201cErected by the citizens of Liverpool to the memory of all those who gave their lives during the attacks from the air upon the city whom five hundred and fifty four are buried in this communal grave 1939-1945.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1949, city architect Dr Ronald Bradbury was instructed to invite tenders for the work which the Liverpool Daily Post said presented a problem.<\/p>\n

It said: \u201cExisting conditions in the cemetery surrounding the communal grave, which is extremely long and narrow, limit the form the memorial can take.\u201d The communal grave is 170 feet long and three feet wide.<\/p>\n

Now, a Friends group working alongside the city council wants to restore the memorial to its former glory. Tom Bradburn is a trustee of the Friends of Anfield Cemetery group that has worked to preserve the history around the site and the stories of those laid to rest within.<\/p>\n

He told the ECHO <\/a>how the 74-year-old monument had gradually fallen into disrepair. Tom said: \u201cIt\u2019s been slowly falling apart, it\u2019s been deteriorating for 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not fit for purpose anymore but we\u2019re going to try and recover as much as we can in the rebuild. The Blitz is one of the most significant incidents in Liverpool\u2019s history and there were young men going through the experience of thinking \u2018will I be next?\u2019 You can\u2019t forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alan Sheldon is the Liverpool Council<\/a> head of bereavement services and has worked closely with the Friends group to preserve the legacy of the memorial. He said around \u00a350,000 would be spent to reimagine the site over the coming months.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis is so important to people we couldn\u2019t ignore it. It\u2019ll be prepared for Armistice Day and to help people gain wheelchair access.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe damage at Anfield Cemetery (Colin Lane)<\/p>\n

Mr Sheldon said there were also plans to line the memorial with poppies, a symbol of remembrance. It is understood around 370 of the bodies in the communal grave have been identified over time with more than 100 unaccounted for.<\/p>\n

Legendary Liverpool broadcaster Linda McDermott has supported the work at the cemetery alongside the trustees to restore the memorial. She said: \u201cIt\u2019s a cemetery that is full of life and inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope when it\u2019s all fixed up, families will come together and be here on the day we unveil it all. The Friends of Anfield getting behind it managed to get a meeting of councillors together and move things forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linda also highlighted the diversity of the site and the luminaries that had made Anfield Cemetery their final resting place. She said: \u201cThere are people of all faiths here. Being a seaport, it\u2019s not at all surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Liverpool Council said: \u201cUnfortunately, due to damage to the memorial at Anfield Cemetery, we have set up barriers to keep visitors safe from any potential hazards. Because of the nature of the damage, the memorial will also need to be replaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that this memorial is an important part of the cemetery for many visitors and we want to ensure that any replacement is done in a meaningful way to commemorate those who lost their lives during the blitz. We are working closely with the Friends of Anfield Cemetery to find a fitting replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2018ve received designs for the replacement which we will share with the group, with works due to be completed in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Blitz memorial in the heart of the historic cemetery is now being revamped 14:24, 06 Jul 2025Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[1120,748,393,4884,179,14487,8838,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-243755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-anfield","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-liverpool-council","14":"tag-nostalgia","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114808687677956231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}