Darwen Cemetery


Darwen Cemetery is a public cemetery in the town of Darwen, Lancashire which lies on both sides of Bolton Road with views across Darwen to the hills beyond. A Cross of Sacrifice erected to burials of First World War service personnel stands by the entrance of the older part.

History

When space for burials in local churchyards became limited the local Board of Health acquired land on the western side of Bolton Road to provide a public burial site. The plot was divided into separate Church of England, Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist sections, each provided with their own Mortuary Chapels and opened as a cemetery in June 1861. In 1876 it was enlarged to cover 20 acres and by the end of the Second World War it was again expanded by the acquisition of further land on the other side of Bolton Road, now known as the Darwen East Cemetery. This too was expanded in the 1970s.
The Non-Conformist chapel was demolished in the 1970s and the other two in the 1980s. The cemetery has undergone considerable restoration in recent years by the Friends of Darwen Cemetery, who are now planning to recreate a First World War trench on the site of the demolished Church of England chapel.

Notable interments


File:Sir Henry Huntington, 2nd Baronet Huntington memorial.JPG|Sir Henry Huntington memorial
File:Eccle Shorrock grave.JPG|Eccles Shorrock memorial
File:Martha Jane Bury.JPG|Martha Jane Bury memorial
File:Cross of Sacrifice, Darwen cemetery.JPG|Cross of Sacrifice