On Saturday 13 July 1872, after exceptionally heavy rainfall, the River Medlock burst its banks and caused devastation across parts of Clayton, Bradford, Ancoats and Manchester.

One of the most shocking incidents took place at Philips Park Cemetery, which had opened only a few years earlier. Floodwater broke through the cemetery’s boundary and swept across the low-lying Roman Catholic burial ground beside the river.

Graves collapsed, headstones were displaced and coffins were lifted from the earth. Many were carried downstream along the Medlock, with human remains recovered from the river, nearby factories, gardens and flooded cellars. Fairfield Street Police Station was temporarily used as a mortuary while the authorities attempted to identify and reinter the dead.

Around 76 bodies were reportedly recovered, although the true number disturbed by the flood may never have been known. The horrifying event became remembered locally as Manchester’s “Coffin Flood.”

A public inquiry followed, during which serious questions were raised about why burials had been permitted on such low-lying land. Burials ceased in the most vulnerable part of the cemetery, and stronger defences were later constructed along the Medlock.

The disaster also contributed to Manchester’s Catholic community establishing St Joseph’s Cemetery at Moston on safer, higher ground.

The photographs accompanying this post, taken in 1912 and 1913, show the later “taming” of the River Medlock through Clayton Vale. Its natural, winding banks were replaced in places by a broad, brick-lined channel intended to carry water more safely through the valley. These drainage and river-control works formed part of Manchester’s decades-long attempt to reduce flooding along the Medlock following disasters such as the great flood of 1872.

In 1909, the Council borrowed £15,000 to pave the riverbed between Philips Park and Philips Park Cemetery with terracotta brick.