The History of St Paul's Church, Stalybridge: Factsheet
The Churchyards
St Paul’s Church was consecrated on 9 October 1839, and the Bishop stated “we also set apart any ground attached thereto as a cemetery or place of burial for the dead”. The wall surrounding the site was the earliest part of the church to be built when in 1836 The Building Committee recommended “That it is highly expedient the site of the proposed church should be walled around as soon as possible in the following form and dimensions viz The side of the wall to the front of the Highway to be 5 feet High; to the top of the coping from the footpath to be of a dressed stone set with lime mortar. The remaining part of the Church Wall to be 6 feet High from the surface and composed of rough fence walling put on with lime ashes –The wall fronting Huddersfield Road was to be in dressed stone and the remaining perimeter to be of rough fence walling” .
First funerals
The first funeral was of a Ellen Ward aged 1 year 11 months who died on the 20 October 1839 - her sister Anne aged 4 years and 10 months was the third burial.
By the 1890s there were 450/500 funerals per year and in July 1891 it was decided that the charge for burials should be the same for both parishioners and non-parishioners. It was decided that a fine would be levied on funerals arriving unreasonably late. The fines were not needed by the church but were to be imposed in the interests of punctuality and for the sake of mourners waiting in the church. There had been instances of hearses being hired for different funerals arranged at the same time.
Before the Burial Act of 1880, all burials would be accompanied by a service led by an Anglican minister. The Act of 1880 allowed burial, on proper notice being given to the minister, without the performance of the service of the Church of England, and either without any religious service or with a Christian and orderly religious service at the grave, which could be conducted by any person invited to do so by the person in charge of the funeral. In 1887 a further four and a quarter acres of land was acquired for an extension, paid for in part by Mrs Robert Platt and to be known as the New Yard. This was consecrated in 1897.
The two churchyards hold about 12000 graves (Old yard - 6345 graves; New yard - 5450 graves) in which are buried 39794 persons. The churchyards were closed to new graves in 1979 and the last burial took place on 24 January 1991.
Redevelopment
Over a period of years, the graveyards – which were once the main burial ground for the Cheshire side of Stalybridge – became very unkempt. The difficulty of maintaining the two churchyards along with the amount of vandalism which had taken place pointed to a need for a new approach.
Eventually the church agreed to a an ambitious plan which would involve the removal of the majority of the headstones and the levelling of the New Yard. This would help in the maintenance of the grounds (now the responsibility of Tameside MBC) and provide an amenity for the local area. The aim was to create — for both church and community alike a respectful, attractive, safe and maintainable area throughout the church yards.
In March 1998 a special Consistory Court held at the church to consider objections to the scheme gave the go-ahead for the development of the churchyard
Work on clearing the churchyard of gravestones prior to developing the area began in 1999. The 'Old Yard' was successfully revitalised with the creation of car parks and a safe area for children. The 'New Yard' to the South of the Church hit problems. Work had begun in late 1999 but came to a halt in November 2000 because of various legal wrangles. After a long delay work began again on the 28th February 2002 and was finished by the end of the year.
War graves which formed part of the churchyards had – like many monuments suffered damage through vandalism. The vicar, the Rev Paul Robinson and the Imperial War Graves Commission resolved that the best thing to do was to landscape the churchyard and to erect a memorial giving details of the 57 soldiers, sailors and airmen lying within the graveyard. The monument, on the Huddersfield Road side of the church, was dedicated on Sunday, 24 August, 1997 in a ceremony attended by the Bishop of Chester, the Rev Peter Forster; the Mayor of Tameside, Cllr Eileen Shorrock; and representatives of 17 old comrades’ associations, including Polish ex-servicemen.
Recent activities
Under Emma Handley the church has taken a fresh approach to developing and maintaining the churchyards. An imaginative scheme for the whole area has been drawn up of which the planting of 620 trees in 2021 was an early stage. In addition, cherry trees purchased by members of the congregation as memorials were planted and are now well established. A memorial garden was put in place in 2000 and the grounds on the north side now feature a Spiritual Garden.
In 2021 the Spring Gardening Group met for the first time. This group of church members now meets weekly during the growing season to tidy and maintain the grounds of the Old Yard. The results of their work has been rightly admired by visitors the church.