Darwen Cemetery is a public cemetery in the town of

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...

, Lancashire which lies on both sides of Bolton Road with views across Darwen to the hills beyond. A

Cross of Sacrifice The Cross of Sacrifice is a Commonwealth war memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). It is present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or ...

erected to burials of

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

service personnel stands by the entrance of the older part.Breakdown based on casualty record.

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 The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 unveiled a World War One monument on July 1st, 2018.

Notable interments

* Sir Henry Leslie Huntington, 2nd Baronet Huntington – Wallpaper manufacturer (Walpamur) *

Eccles Shorrock Eccles Shorrock (born Eccles Shorrock Ashton) (1827–1889) was a Lancashire cotton industrialist who was responsible for commissioning the India Mill and its iconic chimney, a major landmark in Darwen, Lancashire. Early life Shorrock was born Eccl ...

– Cotton manufacturer, responsible for building

India Mill India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. * Martha Jane Bury – Campaigner for women's rights * The cemetery contains 100 Commonwealth service war graves, 76 from the First World War and 24 from the Second and 1 Ministry of Defence grave 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

References

External links

Friends of Darwen Cemetery
*
Blackburn with Darwen Council
{{coord, 53.6787, -2.4600, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Cemeteries in Lancashire Buildings and structures in Blackburn with Darwen Parks and commons in Blackburn with Darwen