Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

By John Greene

Originally from Liverpool I moved to Birkenhead in 1982. It took me 33 years before I discovered the charm of Flaybrick. It began when I came across a photograph of an angel on the flickr website which interested me enough to make my first visit. I was hooked and have been a regular visitor ever since.

portrait of an angel
my favourite angel, Olympus EM1 ii, Lumix 25-100mm
angel in the rain, Olympus EM1 ii

Birkenhead Cemetery opened in May 1864. It was called Flaybrick Hill Cemetery from 1956 and in 1996 renamed Flaybrick Memorial Gardens. Proposals for a cemetery were first discussed as early as 1842. At that time there were many public health issues including cholera which caused churchyard cemeteries to become overcrowded.

In 1841 Birkenhead and the surrounding areas had a small population, around 10,000, expanding to some 50,000 by 1861. This was in the main due to the building of new docks and the developing shipbuilding industry on the River Mersey.

The cemetery is the work of Edward Kemp one of the 19th century’s great landscape designers. Kemp is buried in the cemetery and his rather modest grave is always well-tended.

Kemp’s grave, Olympus EM1 ii, Olympus 12-40mm

The cemetery buildings are the work of local architects Lucy and Littler who are also buried in Flaybrick. Covering 16.5 acres the cemetery was later extended to 26 acres. The cemetery is split into Church of England, Non-Conformist and Roman Catholic sections. Probably not something we would envisage nowadays.

The Church of England and Non-Conformists had a chapel situated near the Boundary Road entrance with a separate chapel building and cemetery entrance for Roman Catholics at the far end of the cemetery. Apparently at the time the Roman Catholics had to put up a bit of a fight to be included.

Unfortunately the cemetery suffered from neglect and vandalism over the years and the Roman Catholic chapel was demolished in 1971. A small memorial wall has been erected to mark the site.

The other chapel also suffered and the roof and imposing central spire were demolished. Funding from the local council and English Heritage has enabled the remaining structure to be restored, but considerable funds would be required for a full restoration.

restored chapel, Olympus EM1 ii, Lumix 20mm
RC chapel memorial wall, Olympus EM1 ii, Olympus 12-40mm
RC entrance, now bricked up, Leica SL2-s, Leica 24-70mm

Further outbreaks of vandalism occurred in the 80’s and 90’s with gravestones being pushed over, there is much work needed for them to be restored to an upright position.

The council groundsmen do reset the occasional headstone but it is a huge project and with local council funding pressures would more likely require external funding and manpower. There doesn’t appear to be much enthusiasm to progress this.

mindless vandalism, Olympus OM1, Ilford XP2
celtic cross, Mamiya C330s, 55mm, Ilford HP5

The cemetery is host to some 100,000 people in 10,000 graves. There are several unmarked mass burial graves some containing hundreds of people stacked up to five deep with just inches between the rows.

Many of Birkenhead’s wealthy and early founders are buried in Flaybrick, their graves adorned with fine monuments, crosses and tombs. At the other end of the spectrum there are graves marked with simple headstones and small wooden crosses.

Some headstones tell a sad tale of its occupant. Some almost a family history. Lots of the graves are tendered to regularly and have flowers and mementos placed on them. I often wonder how expensive some of these gravestones and monuments must have been and if the spouse used up a considerable portion of the family assets in memory of their loved one.

mass graves, Leica ii, Voigtlander 40mm Heliar, Kentmere 400
grand design, Leica SL2-s, Leica 24-70mm
grand design, Fujifilm S3 Pro, Sigma 17-50mm
grand design, Leica SL2-s, Leica 24-70mm
Grand design, Leica SL2-s, Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM
simple cross, Leica SL2-s, Zeiss 50mm f1.5 Sonnar
simple cross, Leica M7, Kodak Tri-X
a peaceful read, Olympus EM1 ii, Lumix 35-100mm
Teddy, Leica SL2-s,Leica 24-70mm

The cemetery grounds are maintained by a small team of council gardeners.

I must give a special mention to the “Friends of Flaybrick”. They are a group of volunteers, founded in 1993, who turn out twice a week to help maintain the grounds. The Friends also provide a grave search service and guided tours for a ridiculously low fee.

On a personal note the Friends recently traced for me the site of my partners great grandparents grave. The headstone was laying flat on the ground. They surprised me by kindly restoring it to an upright position. It now needs to be given a much needed clean up.

Here is a link to Friends website: https://flaybrick.org

When the covid restrictions began to impact our daily life I found the cemetery ideal for avoiding people and it increasingly became one of my go to places for the daily walks with my Labrador dog Guy.

As well as taking photographs I also enjoy trying out different pieces of kit. Especially that which I drooled over back in the day but was at the time way too expensive to purchase.

With the advent of eBay and the subsequent switch by most photographers to digital many of those dream items became affordable. My practice is to buy something, use it for a year or so, sell it on then acquire the next desirable thing.

I’ve found Flaybrick to be an ideal testing ground for the new acquisitions. A Hasselblad 500cm with 80mm lens are next up. I process all of my digital pictures in Lightroom Classic. For any conversions to mono I tend to use Nik’s Silver Efex 3. Film I get lab processed, scan the negatives myself as raw DNG files to process in Negative Lab Pro then Lightroom.

For this article I have stuck with mono only photos.

Here is a final section of pictures.

springtime, Fujifilm S5 Pro, Nikon 24-85mm
no mow, Fujifilm S5 Pro, Sigma 17-50mm
Gosling, Nikon D800E, Nikon 50mm
simply Annett, Leica SL2-s, 50mm
grand cross, Sony A7 M2, Leica 50mm Summicron

If you are interested in seeing more pictures of Flaybrick then here is a link to my flickr photostream: https://flickr.com/photos/151534002@N06/

Share this post:

Find more similar content on 35mmc

Use the tags below to search for more posts on related topics:

Contribute to 35mmc for an ad-free experience.

There are two ways to contribute to 35mmc and experience it without the adverts:

Paid Subscription – £2.99 per month and you’ll never see an advert again! (Free 3-day trial).

Subscribe here.

Content contributor – become a part of the world’s biggest film and alternative photography community blog. All our Contributors have an ad-free experience for life.

Sign up here.

About The Author

By John Greene
Enthusiastic amateur since the mid 70's. Shooting both film and digital in colour and b+w with a strong preference for the latter. I also enjoy acquiring film cameras from yesteryear, playing with them for a year or so before moving on to another. Over the years I must have owned some 50 different cameras. My flickr photostream: https://flickr.com/photos/shaneprenton/
View Profile

Comments

Theodore Crispino on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

Great pictures. Old cemeteries are one of my favorite places. Have you ever shot infrared there? I can see it working pretty well.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

Theodore, I’ve never shot infrared anywhere however you have given me something to consider. Thanks.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Jeffery Luhn on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

John,
Wonderful photos and writing! It's always a joy to see B&W quality like that. What scanning method do use?
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

Jeffery for 35mm I scan the lab processed film on a Proscan 10T using SilverFast 9 to produce “positive” Raw DNGs. These are then imported to Lightroom and converted via the Negative Lab Pro plugin. For 120 film I use a Canon 9000F scanner and Vuescan software. When I convert colour digital files to mono I go for Nik SilverEfex.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tony Warren on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

What an excellent read and some really great photography John. Like you, the cemeteries here in Dunedin are some of my favourite places for my photography these days. They are nowhere near as grand or extensive as this one you so well describe but are still full of history and interest. Fortunately, they have not suffered the vandalism you mention. I have shot infrared there and I can recommend giving it a try. Thank you for such an enjoyable and informative article.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

Tony thanks for your input and some IR film photography is now on the to try list.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Fontana on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

Bradford’s Undercliffe cemetery has followed an almost identical history in terms of construction, a fall into neglect, then vandalism and then some degree of regeneration through volunteer efforts, although of course it is the dereliction that mostly appeals to photographers. Quality mono images, John. The grittiness of your digital images is very appropriate to the subject, though I see one of your images is on Tri-X. If you are happy to reveal, have you introduced a film emulation in your post processing?
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

Hi John from what I see in the Lightroom metadata I scanned the film on an Epson V850 using Vuescan then converted the picture with Negative Lab Pro using one of the b+w presets. Other than spot healing there was no other post processing.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Keith Drysdale on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

I enjoy shooting cemeteries and really enjoyed your story. That location and your shots are impressive and I love how you have used the light on those shots.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 21/08/2024

Keith the often daily dog walking visits to the cemetery provide an opportunity to do reshoots when the lighting and weather provides a different shot. I now have almost 3000 Flaybrick pics, those angels must think I'm stalking them.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Russ Rosener on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

I have a penchant for walking through old cemeteries as well. Usually with a camera. Rather than somber places I find them to be fascinating sculpture parks and teachers of history. This is a wonderful portfolio featuring a plethora of photo gear. I'll certainly give your flickr page a look!
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

Russ playing with different cameras is also part of the joy of photography for me. I did suffer from digital GAS often chasing the next best thing and losing money in the process. However I eventually learnt to buy used and seek out the bargains once the next generation of camera came out. Only have two digital cameras now a Leica SL2-S and Fujifilm S5 Pro. More success financially with the film cameras often making a profit on the resale. The Flickr link above is for Flaybrick pics my general snaps can be found at https://flickr.com/photos/shaneprenton/

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Alexander Seidler on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

You captured beautiful scenes John.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

Thanks Alexander. This is my first ever blog and I've had some reassurance from the positive comments posted, especially as I got a bit carried away with the enjoyment of doing it and have six more articles in the queue.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bill Brown on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

Beautiful images. Cemeteries can be mesmerising subjects with all the artistry and personal drama they showcase. The children's burial plots are so poignant with the objects seen there. I lived for a time near a beautiful West Texas country cemetery. In the spring it was blanketed with various wild flowers which seemed to soften the grief that can encompass locations like this. I cherish my moments spent there and believe beauty is present all around us even in places that can be portrayed as dark and foreboding. After all isn't telling peoples stories one of the aspects of photography? Nice work.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

Bill I must admit Flaybrick would benefit from a little more seasonal colour. A few snowdrops, daffodils and lots of bluebells are present. There is a small section of the cemetery which is well tendered given over to the memory of the babies buried there.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Philip Bovey on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

Beautiful. My wife's parents and her stillborn twin are buried there.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

So sad an aunt or uncle your wife never got to meet. Have you ever visited the grave, is there a headstone.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Max Tiraquon on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

A nice little project, photos are excellent I love revisiting the same location over and over you always end up seeing something new. This location is only about a hour away from me I think I will pop down at some point with my IR camera, I have been on the look out for a good angel statue. I should also get myself down to southern cemetery in Manchester I do love a graveyard.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

Max it’s worth a visit, should you want to do a meet up we could arrange. I could possibly tap into your knowledge of IR photography which several of the commentators have mentioned I should try.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Max Tiraquon replied:

Comment posted: 22/08/2024

A meet up sounds like a fair trade, as I would more than likely never found this place. I have some time off work in a week or so. I believe you should be able to find my email address from the comments section of your dashboard.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ivan Baptista Jr on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 23/08/2024

Beautiful captures. The black and white film is such a wonderful way to document these resting places.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 23/08/2024

Totally agree, about 95% of my Flaybrick shots are mono or converted to mono.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rob Orr on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Comment posted: 25/09/2024

Nice one John, great pictures and comments. The story of Fraybrick really is a fascinating story. You have captured the atmosphere of the gardens perfectly.
Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John Greene replied:

Comment posted: 25/09/2024

Thanks Rob, if my memory serves me correctly it was your angel pic I refer to in paragraph one.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *