The cemetery has been designated a Conservation Area by Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Six of the monuments within the cemetery are Grade II Listed. Opened in 1854, it covers 25 acres and currently there are about 35 burials a year. The cemetery contains an amazing collection of Victorian graves, obelisks and mausoleums which reflect Bradford at its height of Victorian prosperity. The graves include veterans from the Crimea War, Waterloo, the Indian Mutiny and other conflicts. As one of Yorkshire, indeed one of the best of British Victorian cemeteries, the cemetery reflects life from the important and wealthy to the large number of poor children meeting early deaths in that era.

Since 1987, the Charity has overseen the management and maintenance of the cemetery seeing a number of major developments, assisted by a band of volunteers on the routine maintenance. A business partnership with BMDC has enabled the funding of two coordinator posts and a number of new trustees have come forward in support.