Flaybrick Memorial Gardens is a memorial garden, formerly a municipal cemetery called Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, in Birkenhead. In 1990, the cemetery was designated a conservation area by Wirral Borough Council.
The cemetery was established in 1864 and there have been over 100,000 internments since that date, including the war graves of 222 Commonwealth service personnel of both World Wars. Other interments include James Taylor Cochran, who built the Resurgam submarine, Sir William Jackson, who was chairman of Birkenhead Improvement commissioners from 1842 to 1846, Arthur Thomas Doodson, the distinguished oceanographer, Mary Ann Mercer, who was the first woman to be Mayor of Birkenhead, and Isaac Roberts, who was a pioneer in the field of astrophotography.
How you can help
If you would like to help in any way, please become a member of Friends of Flaybrick. Membership is easy, all you have to do is support the objectives of the ‘Friends’ and renew your subscription each year. There are no other obligations unless you wish to take a more active role by joining their team of volunteers.
If you would like to be a member or volunteer, you can contact them through their website.
Additionally, birkenhead.news is raising funds for the Friends of Flaybrick by selling reproductions prints of an 1858 town plan/map of Birkenhead. After printing costs, all proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Flaybrick – but be aware, the offer ends this Sunday, 4 April.
The maps are A0 in size (very big! 1189mm x 841mm) and come supplied in sturdy tubes for protection. The digital file from which the prints are made is very high resolution and on the final print you’ll be able to see in incredible detail the features of the map.
They are very reasonably priced at £12.50 for collection or £17.50 for UK delivery. You can buy a map from our shop – all you need to do is choose the correct item for either UK delivery or collection from an address in Oxton.
About the Friends of Flaybrick
In 1993 John Moffat became concerned about the risk to his family’s graves and founded the Friends of Flaybrick with the support of the Birkenhead History Society. Two years later, they succeeded in getting the name of the cemetery changed from Flaybrick Hill Cemetery to Flaybrick Memorial Gardens.
During 2004 the Friend’s secured Flaybrick’s status as a Significant Cemetery in Europe and in 2010 it became part of the European Cemeteries Route. This was largely achieved because of Edward Kemp’s landscaping.
In 2011 Flaybrick was added to the National Heritage at Risk Register, which lists all heritage sites which are venerable and in danger.
The Friends continued to campaign for the future of Flaybrick and in 2016 a joint funded project, between Wirral Borough Council and Historic England, earmarked £325,000 for work to be carried out to stabilize the chapel walls to prevent further collapse, and to preserve existing stonework and carvings which lay hidden for over 30 years.
There is a need to develop new uses for the landscape and as part of their future plans, they are developing an arboretum with the aim of explaining the important role that trees play in our lives. In addition to the above key projects, they have a group of regular volunteers who work on-site to help clear Flaybrick of litter and excessive vegetation.
Historic England and Wirral Borough Council are now working with the Friends of Flaybrick and the local community to create a Conservation Management Plan that aims to preserve Flaybrick for the future.
To contact the Friends of Flaybrick, visit https://flaybrick.org/contact/
To buy the reproduction Birkenhead map, visit https://www.birkenhead.news/shop/
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