Press Releases

November 19 2008

Historic link in cemetery lodges rescue

Two lodges at the entrance to Philips Park Cemetery in east Manchester that have stood redundant and dilapidated for more than 20 years are to be renovated by a local couple.

Cemetery House and Entrance Lodge date from 1867 and are both grade II listed for their historical value.  They were designed by Manchester architects Paull and Ayliffe in a gothic revival style.

They are being renovated by Gail Spelman, who is originally from Beswick, and her partner, Robert Watterson, who is a builder.

Gail’s grandfather, Dominik Spelman, was a sexton at Philips Park Cemetery for more than 35 years followed by a further five years as a park-keeper in Philips Park and Queens Park in Harpurhey. He worked well into his seventies before retiring and in more than 40 years had only ONE day off sick.

Dominik was the last tenant of Cemetery House, where he lived with his wife Rose and their children, including Gail’s father Kevin Spelman, who lives in Beswick.  Dominik died in 1977 aged 81 and was buried in Philips Park Cemetery.

The job of a sexton included looking after the cemetery grounds and buildings, being on hand at funerals and digging graves.

Cemetery House is part single-storey and part two-storey.  It includes a spire and clock tower but the clock is no longer there.  Entrance Lodge is two storeys with a steeply-pitched gable roof and a tower to the rear.

The couple, who will be investing their own money in the project, plan to live in Cemetery House and resell Entrance Lodge once it has been restored.

Eddie Smith, Chief Executive of New East Manchester, said: “The refurbishment of the cemetery buildings will be in keeping with New East Manchester and Manchester City Council’s wider ambitions for the regeneration of the area and will complement the extensive improvements that have been made to Philips Park.

“We feel really fortunate to have found these two people with such a personal story to restore the lodges.  We are confident they will undertake the renovation work with the love and care these historic buildings deserve.  They are set in pleasant parkland surroundings, yet close to the city centre, so will make very desirable homes.”

After officially taking ownership of the buildings, Gail Spelman said: “I have many happy memories playing in and around Cemetery House as a child.  Robert and I have wanted to see the lodges restored to their former glory for many years and it’s a real privilege to be able to do this ourselves and it will be a huge honour to live there.

“My granddad loved living in Cemetery House and I know he’d be really proud of the restoration works we are doing. It was a huge gamble to sell our house to refurbish the buildings and I hope we can see it through to the end.”

Councillor Mike Amesbury, Manchester City Council’s Executive Member whose responsibilities include cemeteries and parks, said: “It is good to see these historic buildings in a prominent position at the entrance to the cemetery being restored to their former glory, especially given the new owner’s family links with the history of the cemetery.”

Philips Park Cemetery is listed by English Heritage as a grade II site on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. Two other Paull and Ayliffe gothic revival style structures are listed as grade II monuments: the gates and piers of the main entrance at the junction of Alan Turing Way and Briscoe Lane and the Anglican mortuary chapel sited on high ground 190 metres north-east of the main entrance.

The cemetery also contains a number of graves of historic interest, including:

·two survivors of the 1854 Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War,

·a soldier who received the Victoria Cross for bravery at the battle of Rorke’s Drift in 1879 (famously dramatised in the 1964 film ‘Zulu’), and

·a family who perished during the 1915 sinking of the liner Lusitania, an act that would contribute to the United States’ decision to enter the First World War.

The 31-acre Philips Park, which is next to the cemetery on the other side of the River Medlock, is also listed grade II.  It opened in 1846 and is one of the oldest municipal parks in the world.  It was opened as a result of seven years of staunch campaigning by Mark Philips MP to the then city Corporation for the purchase and provision of suitable open spaces in Manchester where parks could be built for the working people.

The park has benefited from major investment in refurbishment in recent years and since 2005 it has held Green Flag status through the award scheme set up by the Civic Trust to recognise and reward the best green spaces in the country.

For more information on the cemetery, Philips Park and the Medlock Valley, visit www.philipspark.org.uk