Salford city council’s legal team is set to contact the Roman Catholic church in a bid to ‘get to the bottom’ of who owns a disused cemetery ‘once and for all’. Town hall bosses are also appealing for the mystery people, or organisation, who fixed new gates to Barton Upon Irwell RC Cemetery at Peel Green to contact them to 'establish their interest in the site'.
No one has yet been able to establish who the overgrown burial ground - last used in 1940 - belongs to, or who is responsible for its upkeep. Yet, after the Local Democracy Reporting Service highlighted how easy it was to gain access, the rusting gates and broken padlock were restored bearing a notice ‘private property trespassers keep out’.
The conundrum over who owns the site prompted amateur historian Craig Ellis to write to Pope Francis over the demise of the graveyard, which he said had become a place where people went to drink alcohol and take drugs. So far, the city council, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford and land property giant Peel say they do not own the land.
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Meanwhile, Craig’s research has revealed that the land was once owned by the de Trafford family who were big landowners in the area for hundreds of years. It is believed they bequeathed it to the Catholic Church but the paperwork was never completed, leaving the graveyard where many priests, entire families and even some members of the de Trafford family are buried in limbo.
Now, a spokesperson for Salford city council has said: “The cemetery has never been in the care of the city council and it is not our land to dispose of. The council has never maintained the cemetery, other than cutting back overhanging foliage which was obstructing a public footpath about five years ago.
“We have instructed out legal team to contact the Roman Catholic church to try to get to the bottom of ownership once and for all. It would be helpful if the people who fixed the new gates would contact the relevant parties so their interest in this site can be established.”
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