Grey granite obelisks and stone mausoleums line a broad hillside promenade with views over the city.
What Undercliffe Cemetery looks like
A broad paved promenade runs east to west along the top of the hill, grey granite obelisks and stone mausoleums lined up on both sides under mature trees. Some monuments stand thirty feet tall, with carved urns and Gothic spires. Others are low chest tombs set behind rusted cast iron railings.
The ground drops away sharply at the promenade's western end, and the view opens out over Bradford below. Slate and stone rooftops spread across the valley, with the Pennines rising beyond. A low stone wall and a flat grassed area mark where the ground falls away from the path.
North of the promenade, stone steps lead down to a lower terrace. Smaller headstones and chest tombs stand closer together here than on the promenade above, arranged around a flat, roughly oval area with paths cutting across it. Some of the paths at the edges of this section run through long grass.
Most of the monuments date from the 1850s through the 1900s. They stand in grey granite and pale Yorkshire stone, with Gothic, classical and Egyptian styles side by side. Lichen covers much of the older granite, and a few of the taller monuments lean or show cracked stonework. Two entrances sit at opposite ends of the site, on to the north and to the south.
Shot in Undercliffe Cemetery
Peaky Blinders filmed a graveside scene in one of the cemetery's Victorian and Edwardian sections in its first series, with a backdrop of industrial Birmingham added behind the real gravestones. The 1963 film Billy Liar used the broad promenade and its monuments for a walking scene between Billy Fisher and one of his fiancees.
Peaky Blinders and Billy Liar
Both productions used the cemetery as it stands. Peaky Blinders added a painted backdrop of Birmingham behind one section for its graveside scenes, and Billy Liar shot its walking scene on the open promenade without dressing.
Peaky Blinders
Played a cemetery, near Birmingham, 1919
The scene uses one of the cemetery's Victorian and Edwardian sections, among plain headstones and a cross that has lost its head, rather than the grandest monuments on the promenade. A reconstructed backdrop of industrial Birmingham was added behind the graves for the shot.
Billy Liar, 1963
Played a cemetery, a Yorkshire town, 1963
Billy Fisher walks with one of his two fiancees along the promenade, past the tallest obelisks and mausoleums toward the cemetery's western end. The scene plays out among the cemetery's largest monuments rather than its plainer lower sections.
What Undercliffe Cemetery can double for
Necropolis in Glasgow, Scotland
Glasgow Necropolis sits on a hillside above the city much like Undercliffe, with grand Victorian monuments lining the paths and long views over the rooftops below. Hundreds of obelisks and mausoleums climb toward a viewpoint at the top of the hill. Necropolis monuments mix weathered sandstone with granite, so a tighter frame on the granite obelisks holds the match better than a wide shot. The site is larger, 37 acres against Undercliffe's 26, with a denser network of paths than Undercliffe's single promenade. Try searching grand Victorian hillside monuments now.
Nunhead Cemetery climbs a wooded hillside in south London, with Victorian monuments and ivy covered headstones among the trees. A clearing near the top opens onto a view across the city, similar to the view from Undercliffe's promenade. Nunhead is far more overgrown than Undercliffe's open promenade, so a clear sightline has to be chosen carefully among the trees. Nunhead's own chapel survives only as a stabilised ruin and Undercliffe's chapels were demolished in the 1980s, so neither has an intact chapel building for a shot. Try searching wooded hillside Victorian monuments now.
Arnos Vale in Bristol, England
Arnos Vale Cemetery steps down a steep hillside in Bristol in terraced walks, much like the terraces north of Undercliffe's promenade. Grey stone monuments and mausoleums line the paths among mature trees. Arnos Vale's terraces sit inside a wooded combe rather than an open hillside, so the wide views over the city from Undercliffe's promenade are not available there. Tighter frames along the terraced paths hold the comparison better than a wide shot. Try searching terraced hillside cemetery walks now.
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