A history of Overleigh Cemetery

The first person to be buried in the cemetery at Overleigh, Chester was Mr. Ayrton of Abbots Grange.

That morning the new burial ground and its chapels had been consecrated by the Bishop, John Graham, who in his supplication said "God hast instructed us to set aside peculiar places wherein the bodies of the faithful may be committed to the ground...where they may rest in peace and be preserved from all indignities".

Canon Blomfield had proposed the cemetery and suggested this site in 1847. The land belonged to the Marquis of Westminster who quickly agreed to exchange it for a modest shareholding in the new private Chester General Cemetery Company. At a public meeting in the Exchange the Bishop had spoken of the disgraceful state of the burial grounds in the city and of a "general feeling that the interments of the dead should be removed from the abodes of the living". Chancellor Raikes said that "Christians' cemeteries should not be all gloom, but bear some emblem of the bright hopes of their faith". They were early advocates of the landscaped, park-like burial grounds which were so characteristic of Victorian Britain.

The cemetery company didn't make entirely smooth progress, however. In 1849 preparations came to a halt for seven months while more shareholders were recruited.

The original cemetery North of Overleigh Road had a lake with islands. There were two chapels, one for Nonconformists and one (on higher ground) for C. of E. Also two lodges and a house for the Chaplain. The Thomas Hughes who was author of "The Stranger's Handbook to Chester" wrote:-

"Nature and Art have alike combined to produce here a retreat worthy of the dead, and yet full of beauty and allurement for the living while on the lake below us

See how yon swans, with snowy pride elate, Arch their high necks, and sail along in state".

Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818-64) designed the chapels, but the Chronicle reported that "Mr. Lister" prepared the cemetery plans and laid out the grounds "with great taste". All the buildings in the engraving have been demolished. The graveyard now extends South of Overleigh Road where a later chapel still stands. Penson was a well known Chester architect who designed the Gothic part of Browns, The Grosvenor Hotel and The Queen Hotel.

Chester General Cemetery was used for many social ranks. The most prominent monuments which remain are of course those of the well-to-do. Some of them can be identified from the picture and the map, including a circular temple of Robert Turner, which is still there but dismantled.

The atmosphere of the cemetery's great occasions is well conveyed by the Chronicle's long description of the funeral of Sir Thomas Gibbons Frost in 1904. The cortege from his house, Redcliff in Queens Park, consisted of the hearse, 15 broughams and 100 wreath-carrying workmen from the Steam Mill. Some 250 dignitaries headed by the Bishop attended at the cemetery.

Old Overleigh cemetery shows the pleasures and problems of a burial ground from another age. It was "full" by about the turn of the century and inevitably family care of the Victorian graves has, with some notable exceptions, declined. The site is now run and maintained by the City Council and the function of the old part is really more like a public park. The picturesque ranks of ivy-clad headstones make maintenance a nightmare. Should nature be allowed to engulf some, all or none of the tombs? Should most of the graves be cleared to give open space? How can vandalism be prevented? What about the dead being "preserved from all indignities"?

 

Reference: The Chester Civic Trust