List of 20 Catholic 'Burials' Explained
The Friends of Calderstones and Brockhall Hospital Cemeteries have recently made a number of public statements regarding a list of 20 Catholic burials which they allege to have taken place in Calderstones Cemetery. They suggest that the records maintained by the hospital are not complete, despite the fact that these are statutory records, required by law to be maintained by the hospital and have been shown to be diligently recorded.
The Friends did not provide us with a copy of the list so we contacted the Catholic authorities ourselves and received the same list as the Friends, which contained initials and dates of death and burial. Within hours we had traced the majority of these deaths and requested a list of full names from the Catholic authorities to confirm our findings. Upon receiving the full list we were able to confirm our original findings and can now confidently advise friends and families, who may have been distressed by the Friends unfounded comments, that we have traced 17 of the 20 Catholic ex-patients of Calderstones Cemetery and all were cremated at Accrington Crematorium, with all but two scattered in the grounds, these two were collected privately. This information is available through statutory records maintained by the required authority. We believe that the remaining three burials were arranged privately, as we all know has taken place throughout the history of the hospital.
We have written to the Friends, and would ask that all who post unresearched allegations, please remember that this may cause upset and concern to friends and family of those ex-patients who have been buried or cremated and recorded in the statutory registers. Any information placed on a public forum should be properly researched before posting, or even better, should be referred to us, as owners of the cemetery.
We are happy to investigate any concerns raised by families and friends, so would advise that if you have any worries about a friend or member of the family that may have been buried in Calderstones Cemetery then please contact us directly.
