Pendlebury - Landmarks

Landmarks

The 45-acre (180,000 m2) Northern Cemetery or (better known as) Agecroft Cemetery, was opened on 2 July 1903 by the City of Salford (outside its then boundaries) on the flood plain between Langley Road and the River Irwell next to the border with Kersal. A crematorium was opened in the nonconformist burial chapel in 1957. A fund has been launched, supported by the council and external partners, to restore the burial chapel which has fallen into a state of disrepair.

The architectural highlight of the town is the Grade 1 listed gothic style High Anglican St Augustine's Church, which was built by George Frederick Bodley between 1871 and 1874 and is widely acknowledged as his finest work. It is one of only six Grade I listed buildings in the City of Salford. The churchyard contains a memorial to the 178 men and boys who lost their lives in the Clifton Hall Colliery disaster of 18 June 1885. The church became known as the "miners' cathedral" because of its lofty "cathedralesque" appearance and its parish in which many men worked at local pits. The vicar at the time of the disaster was said to have conducted funerals all day (64 of the victims are buried at St Augustine's). In May 2006, St Augustine's became the focal point of a campaign by English Heritage to save 19 places of worship in Greater Manchester from falling into dilapidation.

The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital built in 1873 closed in 2009 and its functions moved to a site alongside Manchester Royal Infirmary, in Manchester itself.

At the junction of Bolton Road and Agecroft Road stands a stone cross with the inscription "Lest We Forget". Behind the cross is a stone wall on which is written:

This cross was erected by Andrew Knowles and Sons to the memory of the brave men from their collieries who laid down their lives for their country A.D. 1914–1918

Below the inscription are eight slate plaques each inscribed with the names of twenty four men.