Southern Cemetery
Susie Stubbs
This municipal cemetery is far from humble. The UK’s largest (and the second biggest in Europe), it was opened in 1879 with the country’s second ever crematorium. Controversial at the time, the Manchester Cremation Society argued that the crowded Industrial Revolution-era city needed a crematorium and used the memorable slogan, “save the land for the living” to make their case. Famous interments include John Rylands (the textiles magnate who inspired the John Rylands Library), pilot John Alcock, Sir Matt Busby, S. Lowry and, of course, Tony Wilson.
