 | |
| Walton Park Cemetery, Rice Lane Farm, Walton, 1904 in 2020 by Liverpool : Then and Now | |
Burial grounds in Walton were often co-opted for use by St. Nicholas's church in central Liverpool when the pressure was high. For example, in 1361 an outbreak of plague meant that Liverpool itself quickly ran out of space for its dead, and by the middle of the 19th century the growth of slums and the population explosion caused further problems. Therefore in 1851 a Cemetery was laid out on the land that is now Walton Park Cemetery and was once known as Liverpool Parochial Cemetery. Opened in 1856, Liverpool (or Walton Park) Parochial Cemetery is one of the earliest cemeteries in Liverpool, located near the old workhouse/hospital on Rice Lane and many occupants from there were buried at the site which became the burial place of the poor who died in Liverpool and Walton Workhouse hospitals There were both free and paid-for plots, with the latter placed closer to the footpaths and employing large monuments to the interred. These plots were, of course, only available to the richer members of society, like mayors and the governor of the local jail. In fact, the free plots were often shared between many people - what we might refer to now as paupers's graves and all people buried on the same day would be placed in the same grave. After it was closed as a cemetery, Rice Lane City Farm have occupied the site for 30 years. The cemetery, besides being the resting place for a lot of people and children from the workhouse, also contains 18 First World War burials and six from the Second World War. Scattered amongst the Victorian graves are some of the simple markers of fallen WWI soldiers put up by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A Commonwealth grave is there too, to a 'fireman and trimmer' (= stoker) called Ali Mohamed, whose stone bears wonderful Arabic calligraphy. In November 2016 the Liverpool Echo reported 'New head stones have been erected on the previously unmarked and lost graves of 12 Muslim merchant seamen in Liverpool who died while serving the Allies during World War II. It is believed the men, who served on convoy ships bringing in food and material supplies to the UK, died from various illnesses and diseases (after being brought ashore, with many taken to Walton Hospital) during World War II.' Only dedicated detective work by family historian Vic Raffells was able to locate the formerly hidden and overgrown graves in the former Walton Park Cemetery in Rawcliffe Road.
The Cemetery also holds the grave of writer William Noonan, who, under the pen-name Robert Tressall, was the author of 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist', one of the most important books ever written. He died of TB in 1911 while waiting in Liverpool for a ship to take him to Canada and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave along with 12 others. The location of his grave was re-discovered in the 1970s and is now marked with a large stone under an overhanging Hazel and is near to the back entrance gate on Hornby Road, opposite Liverpool prison, with the old Walton Gaol buildings standing like a castle keep beyond the modern prison walls.
In September 1984, Walton Park cemetery was the scene of an unveiling
ceremony when the grave of a forgotten Liverpool artist was marked.
James Carling was buried with fifteen others in a pauper's grave in
1887. Members of the Rice Lane Community Association Liverpool worked
long and hard to uncover Carling's history and produced the simple grave
monument. The ceremony was carried out by Dr. Roscoe Brown Fisher of
North Carolina, author of the book "The James Carling Illustrations of
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". The Wetherspoons pub on Walton Vale is named 'The Raven' in his honour,
and there is a story board in the pub with some biography and reference to
the Walton Park Cemetery. ( read more about James Carling here - http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/12/a-liverpool-exemplar-james-carling.html ).
As mentioned earlier, the cemetery contains many paupers graves from the former West Derby Union Workhouse, later to become Walton Hospital.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/12/liverpools-dead-interesting-ford-park.html
No comments:
Post a Comment