Wednesday 7 November 2012

Bolton's burial records to join Deceased Online

From Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com):

All burial and cremation records for Bolton Council in the county of Lancashire, North West England are being made available online. There are seven cemeteries and one crematorium.
  • Astley Bridge Cemetery, opened 1884
  • Blackrod Cemetery, opened 1887
  • Farnworth Cemetery, opened 1876
  • Heaton Cemetery, opened 1879
  • Horwich (Ridgemont) Cemetery, opened 1928
  • Tonge Cemetery, opened 1856
  • Westhaughton Cemetery, opened 1858
  • Overdale Crematorium, opened 1954

The data for each cemetery will comprise digital scans of the burial registers, grave
details indicating grave occupants, cemetery maps indicating the section where each
grave is located and photographs of some memorials.

Data for Tonge Cemetery is being made available tomorrow (Thurs 8th) with data for all the other cemeteries and the crematorium to follow over the next few weeks during November and December 2012.


Tonge Cemetery, Cemetery Road, Bolton – Lancashire BL2 6AG

Tonge Cemetery was the first municipal cemetery in Bolton when it opened on New Years Eve 1856 and was known simply as Bolton cemetery. In 2002, English Heritage considered Tonge cemetery to be of sufficient historical interest to be placed on the Register of Parks and Gardens as a Grade II listed site. Its architect and landscape designer William Henderson also designed Corporation Park in Blackburn, Alexandra park in Oldham and Bolton’s Queens park.

In total, there are records for over 116,600 burials, dating from opening on 31 December 1856 to November 2010. The data available comprises:
  • burial register scans with 20 entries per scanned page
  • grave details providing information on all those buried in the grave as well as the grave reference
  • photographs of 4,000 memorials and headstones which include approximately 20,000 names of those buried in the cemetery
  • cemetery maps showing the section where the grave is located

Note: The cemetery maps provide details of the section within the cemetery where the selected grave is located. Each section or block comprises up to 100 graves. Most of the gravestones and memorials incorporate grave reference numbers so using the maps, it is relatively easy to find the searched for grave.

It should also be noted that in the 1860’s a fire destroyed many of the original burial maps. Consequently it may not be possible to accurately locate a small number of plots especially if the deceased was buried in an early communal grave by the river where the graves are unmarked and there are very few headstones.

Note Bolton Council have requested that the addresses of the deceased not be shown in burial register records for the last 15 years.

Viewers will not be able to view the most recent data until it is 3 years old to allow the families of the deceased time to inform their relatives.

(With thanks to Richard Gray)

Chris

Scotland 1750-1850 - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 2 NOV 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

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