Funerary memorials provide important insights into a community’s religious beliefs and observances, as well as the wider social and political attitudes of the times in which they were created. What is evident from this chronological overview of the memorials in Manchester Cathedral is that only a relatively small number of memorials were ever installed inside the building. This is due to a number of factors, including the limited floor and wall space available and the actions of those who controlled those spaces. Building and restoration work, especially since the nineteenth century, further reduced the available space and resulted in the removal of memorials. The funerary monuments were not only small in number but in their form essentially derivative. Brass memorial plaques were mostly conventional in design and characterised by a calligraphy that was pleasing but typical. Changes in more recent decades may warrant a more positive assessment, but for those visiting the Cathedral it is usually other features of the exterior and interior rather than the historically revealing memorials that attract their attention.