Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Flaybrick Memorial Gardens, formerly known as Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, is a historic cemetery located in Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Designated as a conservation area by Wirral Borough Council, the site is owned by the local authority. The cemetery's origins trace back to the 1840s when Joseph Paxton was commissioned to design it, but economic constraints halted the project until the 1860s. A competition in 1863 for its design was won by Edward Kemp, a pupil of Paxton and Curator of Birkenhead Park. The site chosen was Flaybrick Hill, overlooking Bidston Hill, with an initial purchase of 16.5 acres (6.7 ha) later expanded to 26 acres (11 ha) by the 1890s. The cemetery officially opened on May 30, 1864, as Birkenhead Cemetery, featuring three denominational chapels. The Roman Catholic chapel was demolished in 1971 and replaced with a memorial wall. The remaining two chapels fell into disuse by 1975, leaving most of the site's buildings in dereliction. The Registrar's office and Sexton's Lodge are now privately owned. Flaybrick Memorial Gardens is home to 222 Commonwealth war graves from both World Wars, as well as one Russian Navy officer's grave from World War I. Notable individuals interred there include James Taylor Cochran, builder of the Resurgam; Sir William Jackson; and Edmund Knight and Hugh Singleton, former Roman Catholic Bishops of Shrewsbury. In 1990, the cemetery was designated a conservation area. It was renamed Flaybrick Memorial Gardens in 1995 and transformed into an arboretum with mature specimen trees, including Cut-leaf Beech, ...