Undercliffe Cemetery
Information
On a hillside overlooking the once Satanic Mills of Bradford sits Undercliffe Cemetery. This Victorian garden of rest is oft, and not unfavourably, compared to London’s Highgate Cemetery, such is the sombre splendor of its towers, obelisks, pinnacles and temples.
For anyone who was anyone in Bradford society, Undercliffe was THE place to spend eternity. Mill owners, wool barons, politicians and industrialists competed to build the grandest graves and mausoleums.
Then, as now, location was everything, and no expense was spared to secure the finest plot with the best view. The central boulevard houses perhaps the most fabulous final resting places, such as the Illingworth Mausoleum, an Egyptian design complete with stone sphinxes.
Perhaps the finest of all is a 30 foot obelisk beneath which lies Joseph Smith, once a prominent surveyor, now proudly surveying the view for evermore.
Location
Undercliffe Cemetery can be found on Undercliffe lane in Bradford City Centre.