Myra Hindley ashes location

Myra Hindley died on Friday 15th November 2002 aged 60 having received the last rites from a priest. She'd had a heart attack weeks prior to her death but died of died from bronchial pneumonia at West Suffolk Hospital having smoked 40 cigarettes per day. She was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium. It was reported in the Manchester Evening News that her ashes were “scattered at a beauty spot 10 miles from the scene of her crimes on Saddleworth Moor.” Here I am at the spot where this happened at Walkerwood Reservoir above Stalybridge in Greater Manchester.

The ashes were tossed without care into an overflow section to one side of the reservoir. Walkerwood is the lower of three reservoirs and a well-known place for walkers. I went to have a look one Saturday afternoon and had to keep waiting for people to pass before clicking away with the camera. At one side of the reservoir there’s space for about ten cars however the two undertaker employees who dealt with the ashes probably couldn’t be bothered drive to that bit. They just wanted to get up there, cast the ashes over a wall and then leave. There was no ceremony, no hesitation, no words before the launch. Moreover the undertaker made a little hash of it and lots of ash landed in bushes and into the water trickling down the overflow.

Where did this come from? People locally know the location anyway but a friend and his wife were passing the overflow section at Walkerwood reservoir when an undertaker employee launched the ashes over the wall. Over a chat the man said he’d been instructed to disperse the ashes anywhere at this beauty spot. How this particular spot had been chosen I do not know. There's a narrow road leading up to the reservoir and I guess they wanted to get the job done so had parked up the moment they've reached the reservoir.

I took a few photographs but there’s not much to look at. As I took some photos some women passed by on horses, their curiosity roused by me seemingly taking photographs of stone walls. “Seen anything good today?” one asked. “Anything interesting going on?” another asked. I just gave an agreeable answer. An old chap with a friendly face and built-in smile came strolling by and I said I’d walk with him a bit. He said it was local knowledge the ashes had been sprinkled there.

I read that a source at Highpoint Prison near Haverhill where Hindley was locked up said a quiet ceremony involving family members and friends was held at Stalybridge Country Park. This may have been true and perhaps some of the ashes were scattered there. I also read that Hindley’s ahses were scattered by her ex-partner Patricia Cairns. Perhaps this is true though it sounds unlikely.

I had to walk along a wall over the overflow to take the footage so it’s a bit shaky. I did look into the water though and looked at the overhanging bushes and thought, “Blimey this is where the very end came (on this earth anyway.)” Is there a Hell? There’d been a version of it for the poor families who lost their loved ones. Folk still talk about it Hindley and Brady who murdered five children aged between 10 and 17 and sexually assaulted at least four of them.

I read that over 20 local undertakers refused to handle her funeral. Also that as the cremation service ensued (attended by about 12 people) motorists hammered their horns to prevent a respectful silence.

Oh well, it was time to go. I had one last look over the bridge into the overflow. The water looks to run down into Millbrook however by the sounds of it the majority of the ashes ended up on the bushes.

Pointing to the overflow section...

The funeral...