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Manchester, England

Manchester's Lithuanian history is one of the richest among the British cities, surpassed in importance only by that of London and the Glasgow area.

Being one of just a few Western European cities where all three main waves of Lithuanian waves arrived (pre-WW1, post-WW2, and post-1990), Manchester hosts numerous Lithuanian heritage sites, including a former Lithuanian club, a Lithuanian cemetery zone with Lithuanian monuments, and churches that served the Lithuanian community.

Lithuanian monuments at Moston Cemetery

Manchester’s Moston (St. Joseph’s) Cemetery includes two Lithuanian monuments, each of them marking an area where Lithuanians are buried together.

The first Lithuanian monument of Moston Cemetery is an art deco-inspired stele that includes an array of Lithuanian symbols, among them the Lithuanian coat of arms and the first line of Lithuanian anthem “Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų”. The entire top of the monument is reminiscent of the Columns of Gediminas symbol, above which there is a cross. As written on the monument, it was built in 1951 commemorating the 7th centenary of Christianity in Lithuania and it is dedicated to Lithuanians resting nearby. There were 54 lots in total bought out by Lithuanians of Manchester.

Lithuanian Cemetery Zone monument in Manchester

Lithuanian Cemetery Zone monument in Manchester

After the first cemetery zone was reserved, Lithuanians acquired another one nearby, crowning it with a monument dedicated to Aušros Vartų Motina (Our Lady of the Gate of Down) and including a bas-relief copy of this famous painting in Vilnius. While the monument is smaller, there were more lots here (77). The first Lithuanians were buried here in 1978. This zone was established by the Lithuanian Catholic Society (Lietuvių katalikų bendrija) in Britain.

Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Monument

Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Monument

Both monuments also list those buried there. However, as the monuments were built while these people were mostly still alive, significant numbers of them are not buried there, as they, like many UK Lithuanians, emigrated to the USA.

List of those buried here on the back of the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Monument

List of those buried here on the back of the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Monument

Despite there being two Lithuanian zones, they were not enough - other Lithuanians were buried further away in private lots, although many still sought to be as close to the monuments as possible.

A separate Lithuanian-themed gravestone not far away from the Lithuanian zones

A separate Lithuanian-themed gravestone not far away from the Lithuanian zones

The Lithuanians buried here were generally DPs – Lithuanians who fled the Soviet occupation in 1944. 3000 of them ended up in Great Britain ~1950 (with ~800 in the Manchester area). Being especially patriotic and seeing themselves as exiled people rather than emigrants, they tried their best to remain together even after their deaths.

Close-up of the first monument

Close-up of the first monument

Manchester Lithuanian Social Club

Manchester Lithuanian Social Club was the heart of the DP Lithuanian activities. A regular 1883-built house was acquired in 1948. The Club had 251 members in 1949 but by 1952 already declined to 171, likely due to the onward migration to the USA or Australia.

The club hosted a bar where Lithuanians would meet as well as other Lithuanian activities. It was renovated in 1987.

As elsewhere in Great Britain, however, the generation of the DP children rapidly drifted away from the Lithuanian activities. As the original refugees were passing away, the club was closed in 1997 and sold in 2014. While some of the recent Lithuanian immigrants at the time would have frequented the club, few did so and even fewer would volunteer for what was a voluntarism-based institution.

Currently, while the building still stands, there are no more Lithuanian signs, such as the large Lithuanian coat of arms that used to be located near the building.

Former Lithuanian Club of Manchester

Former Lithuanian Club of Manchester

It was this Club, together with the local chapter of the Lithuanian Community, that sponsored the first Lithuanian monument in the Moston cemetery.

Manchester Lithuanian Catholic community

Together with London and the Glasgow area, Manchester was one of the few places in Great Britain where Lithuanians lived even before World War 1, with the upper estimates reaching 1500. In Manchester, they sought to establish their own St. Casimir Church, which started as a chapel in 1904. However, they were doing this together with Poles; subsequent conflict between Lithuania and Poland “divorced” this parish, with the church first being awarded to Poles and closed ~1934. The church building was demolished afterward.

That first wave of Lithuanian immigrants in Manchester also had their own club but it operated in rented premises; some of them joined the DP Lithuanian Social Club (see above) once it was established.

The DPs were too few in numbers to build their own church, even though they had such plans. Eventually, though, they settled down in the St. Chad Church where they had a Lithuanian Sunday mass. There, in 1984, they put on a painting of Lithuania’s patron saint St. Casimir with a Lithuanian inscription and a plaque celebrating the quincentenary of his passing. This painting is still there, although the modern Lithuanian mass in Manchester is celebrated elsewhere.

Painting of the Lithuanian patron saint Casimir at the St. Chad Church

Painting of the Lithuanian patron saint Casimir at the St. Chad Church

While Lithuanians in Manchester did not have their own chapel or church at the time, they had a separate organization – Lithuanian Catholic Society (Lietuvių katalikų bendrija). This organization was responsible for erecting the Our Lady of Gate of Dawn monument in Moston cemetery.

While there were too few Lithuanians to ever have a Lithuanian-majority district in Manchester, Barton area next to the swing aqueduct once housed considerable numbers of Lithuanians.

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