Our vision for Calderstones Cemetery & Crematorium
Our vision for the future of Calderstones Cemetery and Crematorium is for a beautifully landscaped and maintained site ensuring all parts of the grounds are suitable for the bereaved families. This will include a modern crematorium built to the highest environmental standards and including the latest technology to ensure the best standards of service can be provided to bereaved families who come to Calderstones for their service.
Families will be given the best available choice of audio/visual facilities and will be able to say goodbye to their loved ones in the way they feel is most appropriate. All this will be done whilst fully supporting the families choice of funeral director.
Outside, the grounds will be carefully landscaped and maintained to the highest standards, providing areas of lawn, planting and woodland with disabled access paths and discreet areas for quiet contemplations. Access will be available to fully trained bereavement services staff who will be able to provide comfort and support to all visitors.
Some parts of the site have been used for burial, so staff will assist families who wish to identify their graves. There will also be information boards throughout the site, highlighting the history of the cemetery. A memorial listing all of those patients buried in the cemetery will be placed and access will be given to an electronic book of remembrance. Finally there will be some special treatment of the area containing the remains of the Booth Hall babies, with individual memorials.
During the construction of the crematorium and grounds, all areas will be very sensitively developed with professional cemetery/crematorium consultants supervising any construction work. The church will also oversee the work being carried out on site. This will ensure no-one buried in the cemetery will be disturbed, and that the development of beautiful, peaceful, contemplative gardens and woodland areas will allow all to visit the cemetery and crematorium and appreciate the landscape set within this beautiful countryside location.
Calderstones has a sister crematorium, operated by All Faiths Remembrance Parks Ltd. Birches Crematorium & Remembrance Park is located in Northwich and anyone is welcome to visit. In 2022 Birches won the Crematorium of the Year after less than 3 years of operation.
Protecting the heritage of Calderstones Cemetery
RPC are aware of the unique heritage of Calderstones Cemetery and truly believe that the development of a crematorium within the cemetery is the only sustainable development that will take the cemetery's heritage into account.
Already we have taken the decision to keep 'Calderstones Cemetery' in the title of the development, rather than call it Ribble Valley Crematorium. This should help retain the link between the new and the old.
Whilst ensuring there will be no disturbance of any remains buried in the cemetery during the construction of the crematorium, RPC have also committed to retaining as many of the existing features as possible and providing a memorial on the site that will commemorate all those who are buried in Calderstones Cemetery. In addition to this RPC will provide interpretation boards within the site, providing information about the origins and of the cemetery and its connections with the hospital.
All of this will be set within beautifully landscaped grounds that will be maintained to the very highest standards and will be welcoming to bereaved families and the local community. Our aim is to provide grounds that will encourage everyone to visit, stay and contemplate their loved ones, the beautiful countryside location of the cemetery and its connection to the past.
RPC also commits to having staff at the crematorium who will be welcoming and helpful to all who visit. Staff will have access to records of those buried in the cemetery and will be able to assist family members in locating the precise location their loved ones were buried. All staff will also be trained in the history of the cemetery so they are able to provide authentic information on the history of the site from its origin through to the present day.
Retaining Features
Already there has been some work on the frontage to the cemetery, whilst visibility splays had to be provided to meet planning requirements, the wall has been rebuilt in the very same style as the original. This leads through the beautiful woodland area where, unfortunately, a number of trees have had to be felled for safety reasons. The natural woodland feel of this area will, however, be retained and a number of the felled trees have been left as posts where natural carvings can carried out to add interest to the area, whilst enhancing the environment.
Further into the site are two small chapels which are quickly falling into disrepair and, unless the area is suitably developed, will eventually be beyond saving. RPC intend to restore these buildings and the Lychgate that lies between them. This will be a major feature of the site and will link directly to the origins of the cemetery. It is intended that there will be information boards in this area that will explain the uses of the chapels through the history of the site and immediately to the rear will explain the protected area where the Booth Hall Babies were buried, and the story behind their deaths and eventual burial at Calderstones. Good quality individual memorials will be provided for each of the Booth Hall babies
Moving into the cemetery itself, there are very few features as most of the headstones were removed in the years following the sale of the Cemetery. RPC do, however, intend to maintain much of the original roadways, improving them to modern standards to allow access to both the crematorium and the the Commonwealth War Graves Military Cemetery. Once opened, this will provide much improved access to the Military Cemetery during normal working hours, as it was when the Cemetery was operated by Calderstones Hospital.
Construction Plans
Working with experienced architects and contractors, we have developed in-depth plans using a system of controlled gates and permit-restricted access to ensure that throughout the construction of the crematorium no graves or resting places will be disturbed.
