Undercliffe Cemetery - History

History

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 with £3,400 of monies from the Bradford Cemetery Company. The cemetery was designed and laid out over the years 1851–1854 by park and cemetery designer William Gay (1814–1893) and architect John Dale for the sum of £12,000 for landscaping, planting and building involving the building in 1854 of two chapels on the main promenade.

The Anglican western section of the cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon on 1 August 1854 and on the 21st the cemetery was opened. William Gay was appointed the first registrar for the cemetery and Joseph Smith (1800–1858) the first land agent. With its laid out gardens, lawns, shrubbery and few graves the cemetery became popular for promenading in an age before Bradford had its first public park.

In 1876 the planned westward extension of the cemetery did not happen and the land instead went for housing. The two chapels built on the main promenade in the historic core of the cemetery were replaced in 1878 by two larger chapels designed by Lockwood and Mawson.