Cremation Memorials

The number of people choosing to be cremated when they die is increasing in the United Kingdom, with the current figure being 75% compared to 34% in 1960. Along with this though, there a trend for ashes to be interred in cemeteries rather than scattered. More cemeteries are setting aside separate sections solely for this purpose and cremation memorials at are now a common sight.

cremation memorials

When it comes to remembering a loved one, cremation memorials offer far more flexibility than regular grave plots. Cremated remains plots can be bought and the ashes can be interred months or even years after a death, unlike with most regular burials. It is also possible to scatter some of the ashes at a loved one’s special place, then inter the remainder with a memorial so there is a permanent place to pay respects.

An example of where a lot of cremation memorials are being installed by Sarsfield on behalf of families some years after the death is at Anfield Cemetery, next to one of Liverpool’s two crematoriums. The city council allows for the purchase of colonnade niches there for  the storage of caskets, covered by a memorial plaque. These can be purchased for five or ten years at a time and can be costly to keep renewing. In the longer term, a 75 year lease on a plot works out cheaper.  We are now taking a lot of orders for new cremation memorials here for such circumstances. These memorials can take the form of a simple headstone that will then have the original niche plaque attached to it.

Plots in cemeteries for cremated remains are cheaper than for regular graves, but they are also of a size whereby it is possible to install more than a simple headstone there. There is now scope to add kerbsets and small ornaments to cremation memorials, meaning there is a place to remember the deceased person  that has its own uniqueness, but is also of a small enough size to be easy to maintain.

Of Liverpool city council’s six cemeteries, those at Anfield, Allerton and Kirkdale that have sections specifically for cremated remains plots. If you are considering installing a cremation memorial please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your requirements and provide a free no obligation quote.

 

 

The Grave of Sir Andrew Barclay Walker

Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, benefactor of Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery, is buried in the graveyard of All Saints Church in Childwall.

Walker’s father Peter Walker was a brewer from Ayrshire and the family moved to Liverpool in the 1830s when he was in his early teens. The following decade father and son went into business in Warrington, setting up Peter Walker & Sons, which later became Walkers of Warrington.

Walker Art Gallery

In 1873 Walker was elected Mayor of Liverpool and commemorated his year in office by paying for the construction of the Walker Art Gallery, which opened in 1877. The architect was Cornelius Sherlock, who the previous decade had designed Walker’s twenty one bedroom mansion,The Grange, in Gateacre. Walker was coming to the end of his second term as Mayor when the gallery opened and that same year he was also knighted by Queen Victoria.

Walker had wanted to make art accessible to the masses and over a quarter of a million people, mainly from the working classes, visited in the first four months. The gallery was not his only generous gift to Liverpool. He also funded the engineering laboratories at the University of Liverpool.

At the time of his death at the age of 68 in 1893, Walker was estimated to be worth £3,000,000 which is equivalent to over £350 million today. He was buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church in Childwall, Liverpool alongside his first wife.

In 1960 Walkers merged with Joshua Tetley to form Tetley Walker. Further mergers have since seen it become part of the Carlsberg UK group, which produces Tetley Bitter.

The Walker Art Gallery is now one of the finest in Europe, open daily for visitors with no entrance fee. It has paintings dating back to the 14th Century and amongst its exhibits is W F Yeames’s And When Did You Last See Your Father, depicting the questioning of a Royalist family who had been captured by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War.