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Mabel Blackburn, known as the "Chewing Gum Girl" who was said to have died from chewing too much gum. Actually she died from whooping cough, aged three.
Millenials enjoying the view from the highest point of the cemetery, next to the memorial to the Chancellor of the Diocese who chose the location for his own grave.
Most of the tour will keep to well worn paths,
Boomers - elderly and sometimes disabled visitors are welcome and the route can be adapted to meet their needs.
The chapel in the New Cemetery is now a beautifully decorated Greek Orthodox church with amazing icons

Guided Overleigh Cemetery Tour in Chester

By Paul's Chester Tours
Free cancellation available
Price is £10 per adult
Features
  • Free cancellation available
  • 1h 30m
  • Mobile voucher
  • Instant confirmation
Overview

Opened in 1850, Overleigh Cemetery hosts many fascinating graves and monuments that reflect Chester's rich and diverse history. Every gravestone conceals a life storey waiting to be told, and every grave has a hidden history. Led by a qualified and insured Green Badge guide, tours will include visits to around 25 of the most notable graves.

Designed by a famous local architect, T.M. Penson, the cemetery was laid out “with admirable taste” and included two lodges, two chapels, and an ornamental lake with three islands. Humble graves were unmarked or had a simple wooden cross, while the better-off had grander memorials.

You'll discover the extraordinary stories of some of those laid to rest here, including Mary Jonas, who had 33 children, including 15 sets of identical twins; Edward Langry, the husband of Edward VII's mistress, who went crazy and died in the local lunatic asylum; and William Bidulph Cross, who made his own illuminated coffin from wooden matchboxes.

Activity location

  • Cemetery
    • CH4 7HW, Chester, England, United Kingdom

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • Cemetery
    • CH4 7HW, Chester, England, United Kingdom

Check availability


Guided Overleigh Cemetery Tour in Chester
  • Activity duration is 1 hour and 30 minutes1h 30m1h 30m
  • English
Language options: English
Starting time: 16:00
Price details
£10.00 x 1 Adult£10.00

Total
Price is £10.00
Until Thu, 9 May

What's included, what's not

  • What's includedWhat's includedQualified and insured Green Badge guide (2022)

Know before you book

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Service animals allowed
  • Public transport options are available nearby
  • Transport options are wheelchair accessible
  • Travellers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
  • In accordance with UK consumer law, activities services are not subject to the right of withdrawal. Supplier cancellation policy will apply.
  • This activity is provided by a private individual (a party not acting within their trade, business or profession).

Activity itinerary

Cemetery
  • 1h 30m
The guide will give a brief description of the background and history of the cemetery, which replaced the cemeteries in the 8 parish churches within Chester city walls which were full by the mid 19th century. Stops may include the graves of famous Victorian personalities such as local architects, John Douglas and T M Lockwood, the archaeologist Professor Newstead, who excavated many sites in Chester, Dr Arthur Randall Jackson, who discovered 47 new species of spider, and the Browns William and Charles, who founded Browns Department store and saved Bishop Lloyd's palace from destruction. Others were victims of tragic accidents, such as two Hoole children who drowned after falling through the ice on a frozen pond, Marjorie Tucker an RAF driver in the 1st World War who was killed by a passing train a few weeks before the war ended, and Marie Verbinnen, a Belgian refugee who died of a heart attack just three weeks after the war's end. Thomas Hughes drowned when the Lusitania sank.

Location

Activity location

  • LOB_ACTIVITIESLOB_ACTIVITIESCemetery
    • CH4 7HW, Chester, England, United Kingdom

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • PEOPLEPEOPLECemetery
    • CH4 7HW, Chester, England, United Kingdom

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