Photo-a-Day  (Saturday, 21st April, 2012)

Looks like a scene from a Dracula movie.

Crosses leaning over......dark, foreboding sky....just the backdrop for a ghost story. Let's all meet there after dark.

Great photo Andrew - recognised your style before I saw the name.

Very moody, very Gothic looking photo, Andrew.

Well done.

Not nice, but good photography. Very dramatic.

Wigan could be The Hollywood of U.K.

Best pic on here for many a year.
Excellent snap, Andrew.

Stunning to say the least Andrew,
PRO SHOT ,

would look great in Monochrome XP2

good themed photo.Sign of the times crosses took down to make them safe

What a pity it's in this state - I may have indexed the burials in there so that people can find their ancestors, - but how do people find the relevant graves.??
Does anyone know if there are any plans to improve it.?

Did someone vandalise the graves?

Wonderful photo Andrew, the details are so very crisp and clear.

A Bolton. in answer to your question, yes Wigan Council vandalised the graves all in the name of 'elf & safety, bureaucracy gone power mad.

Its touched up.

Very atmospheric shot, Andrew. Well done.
The wikipedia entry for Waterhouse now includes my long-held assertion that the Ince Cemetery buildings were probably his first major public commission:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Waterhouse
All the more reason to regret the present sorry state of the two chapels. A bit of clearing-up and making safe has taken place in recent weeks but, sadly, their long-term future must be in doubt. What use could be made of two small chapels, with no services, in the middle of a tightly-packed graveyard?
The lowered crosses and other stones is regrettable - but families could have had work carried out themselves to ensure they were safe - but perhaps they couldn't be contacted. I don't think it is disrespectful of the dead to protect the living, even if it is from the consequences of their own actions.
As for locating graves, Freda, I have used the results of your hard work to find a number of graves here since it went online. Unfortunately, it is not always straightforward. Not all stonemasons mark the stone with its section letter and grave number (where there is a gravestone - the lack of which is, of course, a bit of a problem in itself). So it can take a bit of walking up and down - and a few fresh visits to your site, using neighbouring graves to help pin-point a grave.
The gravediggers have a plan showing each grave - but I think you have to go to the office in town to consult it, and there may be a charge - and it helps if you note down the names on the plots around your target.

Great pic, saw it the other week but it still looks as good now.

super photo again andrew,well done

Fantastic photo. So atmospheric.

Mick - you old grump - rather than 'touched up' it think it is a very competent use of HDR. Touched up. HDR or not, it is an excellent photgraph.

Wonderful photograph. I feel I must point out the reason for the (nationwide) implementation of testing and laying down of some memorials - referred to as "Elf and Safety" and authority interference. A child was killed by a collapsing stone. I know this as it was my friend's husband and herself who ran to help the child and struggled lifting the stone off him. True, it took a tragedy for it to occur to someone that memorials should be audited and stress tested.

Whether it's touched up or not,it's an amazingly good picture. I agree with all of the above favorable statements. ....Really spooky!!

Great picture Andrew ,So creepy but so real.Made me shudder when I first saw it !

Very very nice... one of the best I have seen on here.

Rev Long, I am not sure of the correct name for such a building... but they could be converted to hold funeral urns in sealed wall niches. Maybe not very practical, but it would be good if some use was found for them rather then we lose them.

Dennis, if someone could produce a business case which would show that the income from such a scheme would fund the chapels' restoration and future maintenance, that could save them from being left to get to the stage where they have to be demolished because they've become unsafe.
Maybe a couple of wealthy, local philanthropists could pay for their restoration so that they could serve as their families' mausoleums....
Anyone know anyone vain enough?

Great photo,looks like a shot from
one of the old Hammer horror films.

Instead of hoping for a local philanthropists why not ask the people of Ince to donate towards there restoration.

why is there only incers buried there mick!.

Fantastic photo! I'd love to live in such a creepy location.

You can, Bill! The Cemetery Lodge is up for sale:
http://www.home.co.uk/search/details.htm?property=2338149890

I think Wigan Cemeteries Admin Dept. has moved to the South Lancs Industrial Estate in Bryn. They were always very helpful to me in locating graves in Ince Cemetery.
Breaks my heart to see the chapels as they are. When I think of my great aunt, Sarah Langford of Crow Orchard Terrace on her knees scrubbing the floors I am just glad she can't see them now. Good idea of yours Dennis if it could be made to work.

andrew that is amazing, best ever photo on wigan world.

I've already checked the lodge out, Rev Long. Its gorgeous inside but not far enough into the cemetery. I'd like to be right in amongst the gravestones. I suppose I'll get that wish in the not to distant future when they lay me to rest!

Well... I won't be ending up in the cemetery after all. I've bequeathed my body to Manchester University.
I hope they make better use of it than I have!

For Neil Cain:
hello Neil
It was great to read your comment. Sarah Langford was my great grandmother. Her husband John died in 8 Crow Orchard Terrace. She survived him by a long, long time and eventually passed away in Wolverhampton in 1934. My mum remembers her slightly. Do you have any memories you would mind sharing of her please? my email is gw.morley@btinternet.com. Thank you.SARA