Five things you might not know about Landican
Landican Cemetery and Crematorium celebrates its 90th anniversary this year – we take a dive into the history of the site and share some facts that you might not know.
It was on October 22nd 1934 that the first cremations took place at the new crematorium within Landican cemetery, with the first burial following the next day – October 23rd 1934 and since then, more than 200,000 cremations and 56,000 burials have taken place up to September 2024.
Check out some more interesting facts about the site below…
‘Landican’ was recorded in the Doomsday Book of 1085 as Landechene (meaning, ‘Church made of Oak’). The name possibly derives from the Welsh ‘Llan Diacon’ (church of the deacon) although, as Landican had no chapel, the ‘church made of wood’ possibly also refers to the neighbouring area, Woodchurch.
The St. Mary’s section of the cemetery contains human remains and memorials controversially relocated to Landican in the late 1950s from the grounds of St. Mary’s Church on the site of Birkenhead Priory due to the expansion of the adjacent Cammell Laird shipyard.
One of the most celebrated local people laid to rest at Landican Cemetery is the legendary William Ralph (Dixie) Dean. Born in Birkenhead in 1907, Dean began his career at Tranmere Rovers, finding the net 27 times in 30 appearances for his hometown club. It was while at Everton, however, that he cemented his place in football history scoring a record 60 league goals in one season in 1927-28. WR Dean passed away in March 1980 at Goodison Park aged 73. His funeral took place at St. James’ Church in Birkenhead – a bullet-header away from where was born on Laird Street – before a cremation at Landican.
With its open environment, birds of prey have made Landican their home. The cat-like “kee-yaa” call of a Buzzard is regularly heard as it soars over the cemetery or rests in one of the trees there. You may even be lucky enough to see the male buzzard perform their ‘roller coaster’ mating display during the spring, where it soars up high and then swoops down over and over again to attract a mate.
- Landican is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2024 with its first-ever Open Day where residents can informally meet some of the people involved in the funeral industry locally and get a rare glimpse behind the scenes at Wirral’s busiest cemetery. It takes place on Saturday 28th September between 10am and 2pm.
