Friends Of Layton Cemetery

I like to walk round graveyards and cemetery's.... There I have said this online !

I know full well that I am not the only one that does this, the quiet breeze, tree lined paths and the most divine sculptures.

Layton cemetery is a graveyard located at Talbot Road in Blackpool, Lancashire in England. It was opened in 1873 when Blackpool parish church was replete with burying. The site encompasses 30acre, having been regularly expanded during its history. It is administered by Blackpool Council. A number of memorials in the cemetery are executed in Portland stone.

 

The friends run tours and are advertised on Past groups on social media - well worth attending!

On 23 August 1971, Richardson assisted in a car chase of a gang of five armed robbers who had attacked a jeweller's shop in Blackpool. As the gang split up and attempted to escape on foot, he and PC Carl Walker, who also later won the George Cross, chased one of the raiders, 'Fat' Fred Sewell, down a dead-end alleyway. Sewell shot Walker in the thigh before Richardson tackled the gunman and attempted to persuade him to surrender his weapon. However, Richardson was shot twice in the stomach at point blank range and died of his injuries later that day at Blackpool's Victoria Hospital.

The cemetery was designed and laid out by Garlick, Park and Sykes, architects of Preston. Originally there were three mortuary chapels, Anglican, Catholic and Non-Conformist but only the Anglican remains. There was a lodge at the entrance which provided a residence and office for the custodian. The original part of the cemetery was surrounded a stone wall, topped with iron railings with a double iron gate at the entrance. These structures are extant. A World War 1memorial is centrally situated.

In the 1930s, the cemetery was rapidly nearing capacity and therefore a new cemetery and crematorium were opened, known as Carleton Crematorium and Cemetery. Layton Cemetery is now replete but interments are permitted in existing graves.

All images by myself ( Blackpool Ghosts Photography )

So much history and well worth a visit by yourself in the future.