New home for chapel headstones

More than 100 historic headstones displaced as part of the Piece Hall redevelopment have found a new home. The stones - dating from the 1790s - originally stood in the Square Chapel graveyard but will now form part of a heritage pathway in Halifax’s Lister Lane Cemetery.

The Friends of Lister Lane have secured the rescue of 114 family tombstones, which were being stored on land due to be cleared for the Piece Hall project,

Fearing the stones would disappear after being neglected since they were first removed from Square Chapel in the 1980s, the Friends worked with council bereavement services to relocate them.

The new path was officially unveiled by Calderdale Council party leaders Councillors Stephen Baines, Janet Battye and Tim Swift.

“They are older than any other graves already in Lister Lane, and some of the families are the predecessors of people buried in the cemetery after it opened in 1842,” said Friends chair David Glover.

“Some have not been seen by the public for 25 years.”

Among those commemorated are the wife and infant child of Halifax newspaper publisher Peter Kenyon Holden, who printed poetry by the Bronte sisters’ father, Patrick.

“There is a balanced mix of ages - because of the high infant mortality many family stones make reference to a child who died young. There are more children than there would be in a cemetery today.”

David and the Friends now - The non-conformist Square Chapel was opened in the 1770s and underwent a revamp in the 1980s - During the restoration, 114 headstones were moved to land north of the chapel. Others remained in the chapel burial yard. - Lister Lane Cemetery was opened as a non-consecrated burial ground in 1842, and replaced Square Chapel as the most popular resting place for wealthy aim to research the history of the families whose stones they have relaid. Many are thought to be from the town’s middle classes.

“There are some very fascinating and moving inscriptions. Anybody who could afford a headstone had to have a bit of money.” families. It is home to 19,000 burials. - The 114 stones relocated to Lister Lane date from the 1790s to the 1840s. - No human remains have been removed from the Square Chapel site. - The Friends of Lister Lane are holding an open day on Friday June 19 from 7:30pm, when visitors will be able to view the graves of two Waterloo veterans.