Headstones For Everton Fans

Given how much of a football mad area Merseyside is, it is no surprise that there is a high demand for headstones for Everton fans. Take a stroll through any cemetery in Liverpool and the surrounding areas and you will soon some across a headstone that has been placed over the grave of an Evertonian.

When it comes toHeadstone for Everton Fan having a headstone made for an Everton fan there are a number of choices, one of which is having the whole headstone cut into the shape of the club badge. It may be more preferable though to have the Everton crest etched or sandblasted onto a standard headstone.

Thanks to technological progress, monumental masons now have the luxury of using newer methods alongside the traditional hand carved techniques. Nowadays a hard and tough material such a granite can easily have images added by etching and sandblasting. On the other hand softer materials such as marble, Portland stone and sandstone can easily be carved by a skilled mason.

Rather than use etching, another way to add an Everton crest is to have it printed onto a plaque which is then affixed to the headstone. These kiln finished ceramic plaques are very good at withstanding extreme weather and vandalism. These pleverton headstoneaques can also be added to existing headstones and an ideal addition to a memorial at birthdays, Christmas and anniversaries.

If having the Everton crest added to a headstone is a bit too much, then you may feel adding a simple inscription to the existing lettering is better.  There are many phrases associated with Everton, the traditional one being Nil Satis Nisi Otimum. Alternatively you may prefer the more modern The People’s Club or Come On You Blues, perhaps abbreviating it to C.O.Y.B.   

When considering an Everton related headstone you do need to be aware that the colours of the club crest will be a better match for some materials than others. For grayscale images that are Everton headstoneetched to the headstone, black granite is best. However if you want the image to be coloured, then think about what blue goes best with, grey granite would arguably be better than sandstone for example. 

If your loved one was a Everton fan and you would like a headstone to reflect this, at Sarsfield Memorials we are sure to have something for you. We have over sixty years of experience of guiding customers on the right type of memorial for you and will be glad to assist. Please feel free to contact us for a discussion on how we can best meet your requirements and a free no obligation quote.

Headstones For Liverpool Fans

As one of the most successful clubs in world football it is no surprise that headstones for Liverpool fans are so popular. You need not walk around any of the city’s cemeteries for long before seeing headstones marking the grave of someone who was clearly a Liverpool fan.

There are various options for Liverpool FC related headstones. If you wish the whole gravestone can be hand carved into the shape of the club crest, or alternatively a conventional headstone can be used with the club badge then etched or sandblasted onto it. The beauty of modern technological advances is that traditional hand crafted methods can exist side by side with new techniques. Sandstone, Portland stone and marble are easier to carve, while granite is ideal for etchings or sandblasting.

lfcheadstone

You may instead consider having the Liverpool FC crest printed onto a ceramic plaque which is then fixed to the headstone. These plaques are kiln finished and extremely durable against extreme weather conditions and vandalism. These plaques can also be added to existing memorials that are already fixed in the cemetery, so they can make ideal gifts for birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries and so on.

If having the Liverpool FC crest is too indiscreet, then perhaps a simple inscription may be more suitable for you. There are many phrases associated with the club, You’ll Never Walk Alone especially, which can alternatively be abbreviated to Y.N.W.A. and added to the headstone inscription. 

One aspect of a Liverpool FC related headstone you need to consider is whether the colours of the club crest will match your choice of material. If you want an image etched in grayscale onto the headstone, then black granite is the most suitable. If you are looking at the etching being coloured, then consider what red goes best with; sandstone would arguably be better than grey granite for example.  

If your loved one was a Liverpool fan and you would like a headstone to reflect this, at Sarsfield Memorials we are sure to have something for you. We have over sixty years of experience of guiding customers on the right type of memorial for you and will be glad to assist. Please feel free to contact us for a discussion on how we can best meet your requirements and a free no obligation quote.

A History of Headstones in Liverpool

Four hundred years ago burial in churches was reserved solely for those of a certain religious or noble stature. For the vast majority of those who died, the body was wrapped in a shroud and graves were marked with a simple structure such as a small wooden cross or some stones.

These basic grave markers were said to stop the dead from rising and if they were inscribed it would be with no more than the person’s name, age and the year that they died.

After the Reformation the right to burials in churchyards was extended and the first markers were often flat. There are not many churches still standing in the Liverpool area that were around then but one of them is Prescot Parish Church. Many of the oldest graves have now sunk but in August 2015 a stone from 1677 was uncovered during the clearance of jungle ivy.

From the eighteenth centLiverpool headstones historyury upright memorials became more commonplace but the information about the deceased was still very limited, as the picture on the left of a headstone in All Saints Church in Childwall demonstrates.

The first purpose built cemetery in Liverpool was the Necropolis in 1825, near the corner of Rocky Lane and Everton Road. Over the next seventy years more than 80,000 burials took place there before it was closed, the headstones removed and the ground landscaped over. Now it is known as Grant Gardens.

In the year the Necropolis opened, the quarry at St James Mount was exhausted and that was converted to a cemetery, the first interment taking place in 1829. There have been no burials there for eighty years and it is now Cathedral Gardens but not all of the gravestones were removed.

Both the Necropolis and St James Cemetery were privately run, but with churchyards full to capacity by the 1850s and Liverpool’s population booming drastic action was needed. The Burial Act of 1857 allowed for new municipal cemeteries out of town and away from the densely populated areas. Toxteth Park Cemetery opened in 1856 and Anfield Cemetery in 1863. As the town expanded, further cemeteries opened in the 1880s serving the parishes of Everton, Kirkdale and West Derby and then in 1909 Allerton Cemetery opened.

Liverpool Headstones History

These grand cemeteries were designed as places of reflection not just mourning, and the headstones that were erected there memorialised the dead. The sections containing the most elaborate memorials remembering the most well to do, give the air of being in a park with statues rather than a cemetery. The huge Celtic cross marking the grave of Samuel Robert Graves (right) in Toxteth Cemetery states that he ‘represented Liverpool in Parliament’, while a headstone in Anfield tells us that the person who is buried there, Samuel White, was a ‘master mathematician at Liverpool College’. Ornamentation on the gravestones also become common in this period with different symbols reflecting loyalty, someone taken too soon and so on.

Lengthier inscriptions on headstones in Victorian times weren’t reserved for the privileged few. They now began to began to say more about the person whose grave they mark, sometimes detailing the circumstances of death. A walk around any cemetery opened in Victorian times will reveal a huge variety of inscriptions. Random examples from Toxteth for instance are that of John Worrall, who in 1856 was ‘killed by a fall from the hold of the ship Hannah Mary in Brunswick Dock’ and of Edward Ellis who died in 1862, having ‘laboured in the Mount Pleasant Wesleyan Sunday School with faithfulness and success for upwards of 26 years’.

Such practices continued prior to the 1st World War, but the inter war years saw headstones become much more simplified when it came to inscriptions. In today’s more secular times there has been a shift from religiously inscriptions to family epitaphs. Whereas one hundred years ago reference to family members was factual, such as ‘husband of’ now this is often extended to something along the lines of ‘a loving and much loved husband and father’.

Memorial sizes are much smaller now. Many local authorities place restrictions on headstone height and also give guidance on inscriptions. With cremation becoming more common, the plots for the interment of2016-07-13 18.22.21 cremated remains are smaller than standard graves and thus the headstones are too. Many sections of cemeteries are much more uniform, with graves being identical in size and material, such as in the area of Allerton in the photograph on the left.

As cemeteries around the world fill up to capacity some innovative solutions are being put forward. In Hong Kong there have been proposals for a vessel containing over 300,000 cremation urns to be floated offshore, while in Oslo a skyscraper several hundred metres high containing vaults has been proposed.

Virtual memorials are now common on the internet and greener woodland burials are on the increase. However most likely in Liverpool the oldest graves will simply be turned over, as they are only leased for a period of 99 years rather than owned. The traditional headstone is sure to be around for many more years to come

 

Bootle Cemetery

Bootle cemetery is one of four managed by Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside. The land was purchased in 1909 , with the first interment at the 26 acre site taking pace in 1913.

bootle cemetery gates

Two years after the cemetery opened a  Gothic style chapel with capacity for 100 mourners was opened by the Mayor of Bootle, George Cassady. Initially the cemetery was intended for Church of England burials but as Ford cemetery in Litherland began to fill up Roman Catholic sections were also opened.

Bootle cemetery also has almost two hundred war graves identified by the Commonwealth & War Graves Commission. There are also communal graves that contain the remains of victims of the Blitz, many of whom were unidentified. One of these communal grave contains coffins that were re-interred from St Mary’s Churchyard, which was bombed during the Blitz.

Bootle Cemetery Blitz memorial (2)

The chapel closed in the 1980s and was used as a store for gardeners’ equipment, before being demolished in 2013 as it was uneconomical to repair. The site of the chapel is now marked by a memorial to the  victims of the Blitz. The demolition and subsequent memorials were part of a £500,000 facelift for the cemetery that also included improvements to the pathways and railings.

New graves can be purchased at Bootle cemetery and can accommodate up to four interments and six cremated remains. It is not possible though to purchase plots solely for the burial of cremated remains.

As with many local authorities, there are restrictions on the size of headstones at Bootle cemetery. Also kerb sets are not allowed, which isn’t the case at southern Sefton’s other cemetery in Thornton.  If you would like to erect a memorial at Bootle cemetery please contact us. Sarsfield Memorials will be happy to discuss your requirements, provide advice on their regulations and provide a free no obligation quote.