Lodge Hill Cemetery

Lodge Hill Cemetery is a municipal cemetery and crematorium in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. The cemetery was first opened by King’s Norton Rural District Council in 1895, and during the 1930s became the site of Birmingham's first municipal crematorium.Having its main entrance in Weoley Park Road, the cemetery is bounded by Weoley Avenue, Kemberton Road and Castle Road. It can be reached by bus routes X64 and 48 from Birmingham, Weoley Castle and Longbridge, and routes 29 and 29A run close by. Nearby is Weoley Castle, the ruin of a moated and fortified mediaeval manor house. Further down the hill the disused Selly Oak to Lapal Canal path runs at a tangent to the site. At the bottom of the hill runs the Bourn Brook.HistoryThe original cemetery site of 17acre was laid out at a cost of £15,000, which included the construction of offices and two mortuary chapels designed by F. B. Andrews. Although it was opened in January 1895, it was not until the following year that it was consecrated by the then Bishop of Worcester and Coventry, the Right Reverend John Perowne.The cemetery passed to the care of Birmingham Corporation in 1911 with the absorption of King’s Norton and Northfield Urban District Council following the Greater Birmingham Act. It was extended in 1925 to cover just over 61acre, and in 1934 saw the building of Birmingham’s first municipal crematorium. The crematorium and chapel, which first opened for use in 1937, cost £9,000 and was designed by the Arts & Crafts architect Holland W. Hobbiss. The crematorium also has a waiting room and a special room containing a Book of Remembrance, as well as scattering lawns that were landscaped in an orchard setting with terraces. The terraces were later remodeled during the 1990s to accommodate newer kinds of memorials. Since the first cremation, which took place on 4 October 1937, the level of cremations has risen steadily and is currently running in excess of more than 2,200 per annum.