Agecroft Cemetery and Crematorium is a public cemetery in

Pendlebury Pendlebury is a town in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,069. It lies north-west of Manchester city centre, north-west of Salford and south-east of Bolton. Historically in Lancash ...

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, Greater Manchester. Agecroft Cemetery was opened as Salford Northern Cemetery by Salford County Borough Council on 2 July 1903 on 45 acres (18.2 hectares) of ground because the existing cemetery at

Weaste Weaste () is a suburb in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. In 2014, Weaste and Seedley ward had a population of 12,616. History Historically in Lancashire, it is an industrial area, with many industrial estates. The A57 (Ec ...

was near to capacity. The new cemetery, which lies in the

Irwell Valley The Irwell Valley in North West England extends from the Forest of Rossendale through the cities of Salford and Manchester. The River Irwell runs through the valley, along with the River Croal. Geology Shallow seas covered most of south-east La ...

alongside the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

bounded by Agecroft Road (A6044) and Langley Road in Pendlebury, was initially outside the

county borough boundary, but has lain within the city since Pendlebury was incorporated into the

City of Salford The City of Salford () is a metropolitan borough within Greater Manchester, England. The borough is named after its main settlement, Salford. The borough covers the towns of Eccles, Swinton, Walkden and Pendlebury, as well as the villages ...

in 1974. Since the cemetery was opened more than 53,700 interments have been carried out. The original non-conformist chapel was converted to a

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also be ...

in January 1957 which since then has handled nearly 60,000 cremation services. The crematorium chapel can hold up to 60 mourners. In the grounds is a large disused mortuary chapel with a clock tower. It is now derelict and hidden by trees. It is listed as a heritage building at risk by the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...

. At the very opposite side of the cemetery to what was the original non-conformist chapel (and now the crematorium), there stood a Roman Catholic chapel surrounded largely by Catholic graves. This was pulled down many years ago and all that remains is a grassed/shrubbery roundabout. Near the entrance is a stone memorial to the seven-man crew of

Lancaster bomber The Avro Lancaster is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the S ...

PB304 which crashed in Regatta Street, off Langley Road, Agecroft, Pendlebury very close to the then boundary between

Pendleton Pendleton may refer to: Places ;United Kingdom *Pendleton, Lancashire, England *Pendleton, Greater Manchester, England ;United States *Pendleton, Indiana * Pendleton, Missouri *Pendleton, New York *Pendleton, Oregon *Pendleton, South Carolina *Pe ...

and

on 30 July 1944 carrying a full bomb load. The cemetery contains the

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...

of 160 Commonwealth service personnel of both of the 20th century's

world war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s. The majority of the graves are scattered within the cemetery but there is a group of eleven and two special memorial headstones to those whose graves could not be marked.SALFORD (AGECROFT) CEMETERY
CWGC Cemetery Report.

References

{{Authority control Cemeteries in Greater Manchester Buildings and structures in Salford Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England