Welcome to the Website of the Friends of Darwen Cemetery.
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Brief History of the Cemetery
The Local Board of Health formed a Burial Board in 1858 to provide a public burial ground. Up to then the only burial grounds were the graveyards of the various places of worship. The long use of these graveyards, their limited area, and the growth of the town made it difficult to find space for new graves.
The Burial Board acquired land at Whitehall on the west of the Bolton road. The area was drained, fenced, and laid out into sections for Church of England, Nonconformist and Roman Catholic burials.
Mortuary Chapels were erected and the cemetery opened in June 1861. In 1876 further land was obtained, the combined area being about 20 acres. The western cemetery is really two cemeteries – the Old to the south and the New to the north.
Towards the end of the Second World War it was becoming obvious that a further burial ground was necessary and land was acquired on the opposite side of the main road. This became known, rather confusingly, as the New Cemetery and then as the Eastern Cemetery. Work was under way by 1945 and the land was consecrated within a year or so. The area was extended in the late 1970s.
Photograph of the two lodges at the entrance to the Western Cemetery.
Note the large Iron Gates which stood between the two Lodges, in between the two Lodges you can see the Church of England Chapel
A closer photograph of the Church of England Chapel that once stood in the Cemetery
This photograph shows the Roman Catholic Chapel that once stood in the Cemetery.
If you would like to see more history on the Cemetery click on the Research tab.
If you would like to see history of the Friends of Darwen Cemetery click on the FODC Timeline tab.