Edgerton Cemetery, Huddersfield.

 

Doddering old Taphophile that I am, a favourite highlight from my recent trip to Huddersfield was having the opportunity to visit the town’s Edgerton Cemetery; located off the aptly named Cemetery Road in the Birkby neighbourhood.

Edgerton is Huddersfield’s oldest municipal burial ground. It was opened in 1855 in an effort to ease the pressure on an already over-populated St. Peter’s Church, still located in the centre of town.

Unfortunately, this once beautiful graveyard is now showing its age; the handsomely appointed gatehouse is closed and is currently (July 2025) being auctioned. Within the cemetery itself, the church is closed and boarded up.

What must once have been a magnificent feature of the cemetery – the ‘Triumphal Arch’ or ‘Cemetery Gateway’ – is also in a state of some disrepair. These – often highly decorated – structures were a common cemetery motif during Victorian times; an almost theatrical edifice through which the horse-drawn hearse would drive, symbolising the passing of the deceased from life to death.

As is almost always the case, the cemetery offers not only accommodation for those who have passed before us, but a haven of quiet relief from the stresses of everyday life for those of us who are left behind.