History of the Cemetery

Calderstones Cemetery was consecrated on 30 June 1916 by the Bishop of Whalley for the burial of former residents of the adjacent hospital, originally known as Whalley County Lunatic Asylum. During the First World War the hospital was requisitioned and known for a period as The Queen Mary Military Hospital. Latterly the hospital has been known as Calderstones Hospital.

We have the original burial records showing the burial of 962 burials and the interment of 211 sets of ashes. The last burials of cremated remains were in 1989, at which time there were approximately 1,462 vacant graves.

Adjoining Calderstones Cemetery is a separate military cemetery managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in which are buried 42 military personnel. These graves belong to those who died of wounds when the hospital was being used as a military hospital.

The status of this military cemetery is unaffected by this application, however, it should be noted that access to the war graves will be significantly improved. ​

Following the decision to close Calderstones Hospital, the hospital cemetery was sold by the Regional Health Authority in October 2000 to a private developer. Preparatory work was started by the new owner to develop a private cemetery and around this time most of the existing headstones were removed and disposed of without faculty permission from the church.

The cemetery re-opened in 2002 but by 2004 it seems the cemetery was no longer in operation, indicating that any options for 'burial only' in the cemetery is unlikely to be sustainable. Planning permission was then granted by Ribble Valley Borough Council on 16 January 2009 to build a crematorium on the site.

The developers, unrelated to RPC, did not continue with their plans. Since that time the ownership has changed a number of times, more planning applications have been approved and in 2019 the cemetery was obtained by Remembrance Parks Construction Ltd.