There are five Trafford Council cemeteries and one crematorium. The cemeteries are at Dunham Lawn, Hale, Sale, Stretford and Urmston, while Altrincham Crematorium is at Dunham Massey, next to Dunham Lawn cemetery.
As with most other local authorities, graves cost more to purchase for non residents than residents. New plots are available in all of the cemeteries except for Hale. There are height and width size restrictions in all of the Trafford Council cemeteries, with most plots allowing a maximum headstone size of three by three feet. Dunham Lawn restricts height to two feet six inches, and there are some sections there where only desk type memorials are permitted. These must be no more than nine inches in height, but can be up to three feet wide.
None of the Trafford Council cemeteries allow kerbs, border stones, tiles, slates, raised mounds or turf banking. Their regulations also stipulate that memorials must be made of natural stone materials, wood is not allowed.
Trafford council’s bereavement services is situated at Altrincham Crematorium in Dunham Massey. Opened in 1959, this is a multi denomination crematorium and can accommodate 140 mourners, as well as relaying services on screens outside if necessary. The adjoining Dunham Lawn Cemetery opened in 1963. It has a dedicated Muslim section and also separate children’s garden for the burial of stillborn or young babies.
Despite opening as long ago as 1862, Sale Cemetery still has new burial plots available for purchase. There are also smaller plots solely for the interment of cremated remains. These are half the size of the regular graves. Sometimes known as Brooklands, Sale Cemetery has twice been expanded and contains some notable graves, including that of physicist James Prescott Joule, who discovered heat’s relationship with mechanical work.
Stretford Cemetery opened in 1885. It contains a communal grave containing the remains of seventeen unidentified victims of the Manchester Blitz of December 1940. A memorial to all those Stretford residents who lost their lives during the bombing in World War Two was erected at that grave in 1948. The area was a target for the Luftwaffe due to Avro Bombers and Spitfire engines being produced at Trafford Park.
Urmston Cemetery was laid out on the site of Urmston Old Hall, a 16th Century feudal manor, in 1892. In 1986 fragments of Roman pottery were found at Urmston Cemetery, so who knows if there are even older burials there than are officially recorded.
The chapels at Sale, Stretford and Urmston cemeteries are no longer in use. However for burials taking place in these cemeteries, it can be arranged for services to take place in the chapel at Altrincham Crematorium or Hale Cemetery. This cemetery, like all the others except Dunham Lawn, dates back to Victorian times and opened in 1894. Although its chapel remains in use, Hale Cemetery is the only one of the Trafford Council cemeteries where new grave plots can no longer be purchased. Burials are allowed in existing plots however.
Alberti, Lupton & Co. are permitted to install or repair memorials in all of Trafford’s cemeteries. We are a family run monumental mason business that has been in existence for over 110 years spanning five generations. We are Greater Manchester’s oldest family run mason and any work we do in Salford cemeteries will be carried out to NAMM (National Association of Memorial Masons) standards. If you are considering a new memorial or renovation of an existing one in any of the Trafford Council cemeteries do not hesitate to contact us and we will be pleased to help you.