About Us

All Souls   Cemetery  

Boothtown

  Halifax

The cemetery is situated a short distance away from the church in Boothtown, Halifax, West Yorkshire and was consecrated by the Archbishop of York on April 20^th 1856.  The construction of All   Souls   Church (grade 2 listed building), housing and cemetery were financed by a local philanthropist and mill owner Colonel Edward Akroyd. The cemetery is in two sections; the lower section is now closed and contains several graves of historical interest, while the top section is classed as open.

For many years the cemetery has been neglected, unsightly, dangerous and in serious need of repair and maintenance. In 2003 a group of volunteers set up a non profit group ‘Friends of All Souls Cemetery’ and set about clearing the site. They are currently removing debris, maintaining the grassed areas, have replaced some of the paths, installed seating and some fencing, purchased equipment and container and planted flowers, shrubs and bulbs.

The cemetery forms an important open space in a predominantly built up area and is a main pedestrian link for local people and school children, as a convenient traffic free link to the main road, shops and services.

The main priority is for accessibility and safety with a view of creating an attractive, safe public open space which can be used by the whole community, able bodied and disabled visitors to the site.

Further funding is required for the continuance of maintenance and restoration of the unsafe headstones and graves, repairing boundaries and pathways, fencing, and landscaping. Future projects involve processing the information collated to create a historical trail for visitors, involving the local school children in a planting project and the production of a new information board