Current Position of the Cemetery
Remembrance Parks Construction Ltd (RPC) has engaged experienced cemetery and crematorium personnel to ensure the cemetery can be brought back to a high standard of maintenance and become a useful asset for the community. There will be no disturbance of the remains of those buried and a memorial will be erected, along with information boards, to retain the heritage of the site.
Plans have been submitted to the local authority and planning permission has been granted for the development of a crematorium on the site. These plans can be inspected through the Council's Planning Portal. The Council is satisfied about the need for a crematorium and that the plans submitted will meet the needs of the community. Work has started on the construction of the crematorium, this work has been delayed for a number of reasons.
There have been concerns raised regarding the disturbance of previous burials on the site, however, all the Hospital records and registers have been examined and evidence provided for the location of every burial. This includes the burial of cremated remains in the Garden of Remembrance. This Garden was unmarked and no-one knew its location for a long time, previous developers had thought it may have been further into the cemetery, marked by signage concrete vases and pampas grasses. This proved likely to be a garden developed by a previous owner around 2002 - 2004. The Garden of Remembrance used for the burial of 211 cremated remains of previous patients of Calderstones Hospital has now been accurately located and plans altered to ensured the remains will not be disturbed.
There is now no doubt that there are no burials on the specific area of the cemetery where the crematorium is to be built. A request has now been made for the relatively small area of the site, where the crematorium building is to sit, to be de-consecrated, to allow the site to be suitably developed under the supervision of professional cemetery and crematorium consultants and church officers.
This sensitive development of a crematorium on the site will be the only way those buried in the cemetery can be properly memorialised and remembered. If the crematorium is built, RBC plan to provide beautiful, peaceful grounds for bereaved families and the local community to use. Whilst enjoying the gardens, there will be information boards showing the history of the cemetery, individual memorials for the Booth Hall babies and a central memorial listing all the names of those buried in the grounds.
There has been a degree of misinformation about the current development of the site and RPC would like to clarify how we would like to sensitively develop the site for all concerned.