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Chorley Historical and Archaeological Society
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Apr 2025
 
John Harrison – Visit to Chorley Cemetery.
Sat 12th Apr 2025

A big thanks to John Harrison of Chorley Historical Society for a conducted tour of Chorley Cemetery this morning. John told us about the various memorials & graves to the great & the good & not so good. Mill owners, lawyers & doctors who made Chorley what it is. All fascinating stuff.

John Harrison & CHAS members.

By the Lawrence Memorial.

Chorley Cemetery.
 
John Harrison – Chorley Cemetery – Dead Interesting.
Tue 08th Apr 2025
The creation of Cemeteries was part of the Public Health concerns that began early in the 19th century. The first big concern came in 1831 when Cholera came to Chorley. Instructions were issued to remove without delay ther dirty water and rubbish accumulated in the streets and highways. The population of Chorley had tripled in the first half of the 19th century.
The churchyards were not big enough to cope and it was reported that at the parish church of St. Lawrence the graveyard was “so long used that the subsoil is full of human remains; bones and fragments of coffins constantly dug up when graves are dug.”
Sir Robert Rawlinson was a great sanitary reformer and civil engineer whose father had been born in Chorley. He itemised the problems and set out a programme for improvement.

John Harrison.

Chorley Cemetery.

Grave of Richard Smethurst.

Richard Smethurst.
As well as reporting on the lack of sewers, the lack of domestic water supply, and the problems of night soil, he said the churchyards were full and a cemetery was needed.
Action was demanded and the result was that Chorley was given an Improvement Commission which governed the town for almost 30 years.
The Improvement Commission was established in 1853, but concentrated on putting in a sewerage system in the town, and improving the water supply. The Cemetery was only opened in 1857.
The laying out of the site was the responsibility of the surveyor James Derham.

Sir Richard Rawlinson (1810-1898)
 
On Sat 3rd Jan 1857 the Anglican part of Cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of Manchester.
First interment occurred on Wed 7th Jan 1857 and was George Humphreys age 5 of West Bank.
The first adult was Richard Smethurst who ran 3 mills in Chorley.
 
 
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