A dreaded sunny day
So I meet you at the cemetry gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side – The Smiths (1986)
I am a huge Smiths fan. Whatever you think of Morrissey, their music and his solo stuff is very good. I saw Morrissey live in Leeds, 11 years ago. I was 18 and vegetarian at the time. He played Meat is Murder at the concert, showing cattle being ruthlessly butchered, and then whipped his shirt off at the end. I still have the T-shirt I bought from the concert! It fits, even though I now eat meat…(Sorry, Morrissey!) It is a concert I remember fondly, and it got me into more of his solo stuff (along with the 1001 albums list), although I still prefer the Smiths’ albums. When I first bought the 111 Places book, I flicked through to see some of the first things I would do. If I knew what they were and where they were or if I already done them etc. This one, I had never heard of, but it piqued my interest. First reason, the idea of a cemetery being a place you should visit I found fascinating. Maybe it is morbid to say, but I do enjoy walking around a graveyard. (Not a hobby I put on my Tinder profile anyway). I do find they are both eerie and peaceful. They hold a lot of history and memories, which makes for a great experience if you can immerse yourself in it.
Researchers have described cemeteries as documents of history, marking the final resting place of our ancestors and enabling us to glimpse into how they lived their lives. Through things such as different styles of tombstones, different vegetation, decorations, and flowers. (Brew, C, and Fawcett, T. 2006). Southern Cemetery is a great example of this, as it is so vast and has a large variety of different tombstones from different eras.
The cemetery was opened in the late 19th century and is the largest municipal cemetery in the UK. (Manchester City Council. Undated.) Buried here are some big names – Sir Matt Busby, John Henry Davies and L.S Lowry! (Murray, A. 2024). Fans of the Smiths may be disappointed to know that the names mentioned in “Cemetry Gates” are actually not buried here. (I was anyway!). But the sentiment of the song still stands.
I was worried, walking around the cemetery, about taking photos. I have taken photos of each entry from the list I have done thus far and created an Instagram post. I had reservations about doing that in a cemetery. Is it odd? Not sure what the etiquette is on posting photos of gravestones. I did do a google before I posted, and the “polite” rules were do not post if it is less than a hundred years old. Which is such a shame because now I can’t post the photos of all the dead celebrities I found..
I saw none – but, aside from the ones I’ve already mentioned, the book also mentions others such as John and Enriqueta Rylands, SIr John Alcock, Sir Ernest Maples, and Tony Wilson. (Treuherz, J, and Figueiredo. 2024). Not sure why Morrissey didn’t reference these in his song? Not as easy to rhyme, I guess.
I was also anxious about strolling along on my own through a graveyard, just..looking at stuff. The good thing about a challenge like this is that it gets you out of your comfort zone a bit as well as enabling you to visit and experience things you might not otherwise experience. On that note, this does get more difficult further down the list. If you wanted to do it alone, be warned that if you’re introverted that there are places like busy restaurants, a nightclub, and other things you would probably normally expect to do with a group. But I’m glad I am forcing myself to do it. The cemetery might be odder to invite friends. I wasn’t the only person in the cemetery either. Maybe there are others doing the challenge?! Or visiting loved ones..
I got over my anxiety a bit by sitting down on a bench near the entrance and reading the entry for the place in the book. (I differ in my approach to reading these; sometimes I read them before, sometimes after, or, like now, during the experience). I read the entry, put the book away, put my earphones on, and had a good little look around, taking the scenery in. There were a lot of options of different paths to take, and at the moment, I was pretty much in the middle of the cemetery. If you wanted to traverse the whole area, you could spend a good long while there. This is where I struggle sometimes, because I like to do everything there is to do, and when there is no clear direction, I always worry that I will miss something. I find this to be the case with some museums that are too open . (Like some in this list..)
The tale goes that Morrissey used to wander around the graveyard with his friend Linda Sterling and would invent stories about the people laid to rest there. (Treuherz, J, and Figueiredo. 2024). Is this a date? I can understand how someone would find a lot of beauty in a cemetery, especially one like this. I do think this place is visually and historically incredible. But I can’t imagine trying to get to know someone and just saying, “Oh well, there’s a really cool ‘cemetry” nearby, we could have a walk around there and make up some stories about some dead people we never met?”
It is strange, but I appreciate the poetry of it. Maybe nostalgia is a better word? Surely you can’t be nostalgic for something you never had or for someone you never met?
But there is a sense of connectivity to a different time.
I did not initially though that this cemetery was affiliated with Morrissey, but as I was flicking through the book, I was drawn to it. Some might find it strange that a graveyard would be something you “shouldn’t miss” in Manchester. The book itself describes it as the “least romantic in existence” (Treuherz, J, and Figueiredo, P. 2024). I take umbrage with this description. I thought it was a visually beautiful place. Maybe in an unusual way. The place is huge! And there are a variety of different gravestones dating back to a variety of different eras. Some are more showing signs of ageing, but there are others that are clearly being tended still today. I wonder what Morrissey would say if he saw this place described as unromantic?
Overall rating – Positive – You should visit. I know it’s a graveyard, but it’s cool! It is easier to take an experience from this place than the previous entry, the Peterloo Memorial. (Although I do really like that one too). My second reason I was drawn to this was the connection with Morrissey, which I had only learned from the book.
References
Brew, C and Fawcett, T. 2006. “Reading More Into Cemeteries”. Australian Guardian History. Vol 18(2). Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44179346?searchText=cemeteries&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcemeteries%26so%3Drel%26efqs%3DeyJjdHkiOlsiYW05MWNtNWhiQT09Il19&ab_segments=0%2Fspellcheck_basic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A6ebb5b430dfb0b09dbe4cc6ab2de9fd3&seq=1 Accessed 09/11/2025.
Manchester City Council (Undated). “Manchester Cemeteries and Blackley Crematorium”. Available at: https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200032/deaths_funerals_and_cemeteries/5099/manchester_cemeteries_and_blackley_crematorium/6 Accessed 05/10/2025.
Murray, A. (2024) “Walking with Ghosts: Southern Cemetery.” (2024). Available at: https://www.northernsoul.me.uk/southern-cemetery/ Accessed 05/11/2025.
Treuherz, J and Figueiredo, P. (2024) 111 Places in Manchester That You Shouldn’t Miss. 4th Edition.
111 Places to Visit in Manchester Challenge 
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