News in 2025

March 2025


Contact with the Ministry of Justice

After a seven month delay, we have finally received a written response from the Ministry of Justice who we believe, would be responsible for the governance of any de-consecrated area within the Cemetery. The attached letter appears to show that discussions have already begun between the Owners, the Diocese and the MOJ, which we were not previously aware of. Having now established contact with Junaid Patel, we hope to have further information from him shortly and have already written to him again.


Waiting for the Archdeacon

Members and readers will recall the article headed the "southern Garden of Remembrance" which was included in the September 2024 news bulletin and refers to the Friends detailed report covering the Archdeacon's active involvement and consistent promotion of the de-consecration of the Cemetery. The five-page report covers the period January 2018 to date and gives a detailed timeline of our understanding of the Archdeacon's involvement within and outside the Diocese. The Diocesan timeline of events is dovetailed with a timeline of events involving the RVBC Planning Department and its representatives, to highlight the connection between the two. We believe the report reflects badly on the Archdeacon's and possibly the Diocese's actions and inactions over the past seven years, but recognise that the information is based entirely on our understanding of those events, which inevitably might include mistakes or misunderstandings. Given the nature of some of the detail and the inappropriate actions which were involved, it was decided not to publish the report until we had re-checked all our information and the Archdeacon had had the opportunity to correct any mistakes or misunderstandings which he felt that we had made. 

News of the Archdeacon's pending retirement encouraged us to send the report to him, in confidence, on the 16th February, allowing him the time to check the claims and suggestions which are made, against his own notes and recollection of events.. We have yet to receive a reply, but hope to do so before the Archdeacon retires to Hellifield in early April. 



        Old cuttings from the LET

It is interesting to review the newspaper coverage of the proposed sale of the Cemeteries, especially with the knowledge of what actually happened and the reliability or otherwise of the commitments which were made. Readers may find the subsequent comments of Mr Gerald Hitman and the much later letter of the then Secretary of State for Health, Mr Stephen Hammond, to be revealing. 

A special birthday

David Fitzpatrick celebrated a special birthday with a weekend away in York. A stalwart and still very active member of the Friends who spent his working life in Calderstones, David is the reliable source of information about all aspects of the history and operation of the Hospital, its generations of different staff and most importantly, the memorable characters who lived their lives as "patients" of the Hospital, but who to David, were always simply known as his friends. He remains active with his allotment in Sabden and is involved in numerous local and sporting charities.  He continues to assist a friend who has some disabilities to attend football matches at  Burnley and Blackburn Rovers, yet still finds the time and contributions to support the Whalley in Bloom charity.

More Casella photos

These photos were taken as part of the Casella project immediately before the sale of the Cemetery in October 2000. They show ) Looking West towards the chapels 2) Looking East towards the Military section, note the absence of any fence or barrier. The Booth Hall babies graves show their prominent position and how they were well-tended and cared for. The open-door into the sacred and respected Church of England chapel, reminds us of a very different time and society.

January 2025


Law Commission's consultation

The Friends  begun the new year with a request to contribute to the Law Commission's consultation on proposed changes to burial legislation which seeks to address the relevance of often historic legislation to the changing circumstances and expectations of the modern day. There were multiple aspects of legislation to be considered, many of which were not relevant for the Friends, but we were asked to comment on the neglect of cemeteries and the remedies and controls which might be applied in such situations. We were also able to quote from our own direct experience with section 5 of the Cremation Act 1902 and the apparent indifference or ignorance of some developers to those regulations, Aspects of governance and enforcement were addressed and it is likely that we may have further contact with the Commission in this respect.  The poor,  inconsistent and at times complete absence of records dealing with all aspects of burial practice was highlighted and we have been asked to comment on our experience of those few areas in which excellent and fully accessible records have survived, contrasting with the majority, which for whatever reason, are simply no longer available.We have particular experience of trying to compile detailed and corroborated records of deaths, burials and cremations from different authorities across a lengthy period of time. In a few instances that corroboration has been immediately available, but often it has been impossible to make the same links and occasionally where the records of one authority conflict with those of another, and  40 to 50 years after the event,  it is impossible to decide between those different accounts. We have already had our fist acknowledgement and contact from the Commission and look forward to being able to make further contributions in the future

Old records and articles.

Shortly before Christmas we received a valuable collection of copies of old records and newspaper articles relating to the Cemetery which make interesting and informative reading,when you consider how events have developed since they were originally produced, how some plans and commitments have been honoured or ignored, and how parts of the Cemetery's history have been conveniently overlooked or forgotten especially when they might contradict the different narratives which the owners, developers, planners and representatives of the Diocese may wish to promote and defend. Over the coming months we hope to reproduce these documents but will begin with earlier plans of a former owner, Colin Arkwright promoting the services which he was offering as part of the Ribble Valley Remembrance Park. Readers will note that Family Burial Plots, Vaulted Burial Plots, Natural burials, as well as Ash Plots and scattering in the Garden of Memories were all available and in some cases, special services were available for pets. We know that Rosemary Needham and the "Lady in the wicker basket" were buried in the Cemetery at this time, and the obvious question remains how many other people were also buried in the same area by the owners of Ribble Valley Remembrance Parks?.The official register record and family rights to Rosemary Needham's grave have survived, but what about those other people. Anybody who walks the length of the northern section of the Cemetery, where Rosemary and the Lady in the wicker basket are buried, especially in dry or frosty conditions cannot miss the multiple areas of regular shaped subsidence in the ground, and will rightly question, if they are not graves, what else could they be?

Retirement of the Archdeacon

Members will be interested to learn of the forthcoming retirement of the Reverend Mark Ireland, Archdeacon of the Blackburn Diocese who has been in his current post since 2016 and has been heavily involved with the Cemetery and the various applications for de-consecration during that time. We understand that the Archdeacon will leave the Diocese, immediately after a special farewell service  in the Cathedral on 6th April, which coincides with his 65th birthday and intends to retire to live in the Hellifield area of North Yorkshire.
During  the past eight years the Archdeacon has  expressed a  significantly different view of the Cemetery's future to that of the Friends. We have respected his view while consistently arguing against it and hope that our position has been equally respected. After 40 years of service to the Church, much of it within the Diocese of Blackburn, the time has now come for him to move on to the next chapter in his life. We wish him a healthy and fulfilling retirement in Hellifield

Recent photos

During the recent cold and frosty weather a series of photos were taken showing the  areas in which the trees were removed from the woodland area and a general views of both the Calderstones and the QMMH cemeteries. With the severe frost, the overgrown vegetation is much easier to access and visit the graves but also to identify the location of any grave. The marker sticks remain in place identifying the rows of graves in both the northern and southern section and with the knowledge of the row number, it is possible to locate any individual grave in that row of 24, using approximately 44" spacings between the verges of each row. The severe frost also highlights the multiple areas of  seemingly regular shaped subsidence across the northern section of the Cemetery;  if we do experience a further spell of similarly cold and freezing weather, then it might be an ideal time for visitors to see these places. 

A winter visit

Visiting the Cemetery and the graves during any time of the year provides different views and memories, heavily influenced by the weather and the season. Having the opportunity to visit during the winter, especially when there has been a severe frost over a few days provides a unique experience which hopefully other members and visitors have experienced and others will do so in the future. The overgrown vegetation looks flatter, ans the land looks tidier and much more like a cemetery rather than a disused and neglected field. In contrast the large area of spoil which was dumped on a large part of the south western quadrant of the Cemetery, now surmounted by overgrown weeds of every type reflects the neglect of the past few years. However, as you wander into the Cemetery, the few personal crosses and memorials stand out in the more orderly background, and the presence of the marker sticks identifies each of the rows of 24 graves, allowing the identification of any individual. As you walk on the northern side of the central path, sometimes referred to as the RC or Roman Catholic section, you will quickly come across some of the personal memorials, but also begin to discover a number of seemingly regularly shaped depressions in the ground, which we believe may be graves. Strangely these depressions or graves are clearly evident in frost conditions when the vegetation has been flattened but may be very difficult to find in wet weather when the vegetation is waist high. Looking towards the large oak tree, you may identify the three green marker sticks which were placed by the gravedigger who dug the grave for the "Lady in the wicker basket," 20 years earlier. Had he been able to see the ground on that day, he was confident he could have identified which of the three sticks marked the exact spot.

  Entering and leaving the Cemetery the space created by the removal of so many apparently diseased or dead trees is evident. We await the arrival of Spring to see the new growth and how the views into and out of the Cemetery have been affected.


Further photos

Sadly, for some unknown visitors, the Cemetery remains inaccessible and they are obliged to leave their memorials outside, rather than on the graves of the deceased 


February 2025


The Casella photos

In early 2000 an environmental company named Casella was commissioned by Alfred McAlpine Homes North West Ltd to produce a photographic record of the whole Calderstones Hospital site. Presumably this was part of the arrangement which the NHS had reached with the contractor responsible for the housing development on the former hospital site. Casella produced a total of 1856 photos of every area, building and aspect of the site, it is a comprehensive record of how the Hospital and it's site looked prior to it's partial closure and the commencement of housing development. The whole collection was donated to the Lancashire Archives in Preston here it remains accessible to anybody with an interest in the Hospital or it's history. Among the collection are 11 photos of the Cemetery, which we hope to publish on the website later this year. They show a well-maintained and cared for Cemetery, in which the relatively modern gravestones with their personal inscriptions reflect the community's respect for the deceased people who had lived across the road for most of their lives. It would be very difficult for the then purchasers of the Cemetery to imply that it was in a neglected or poorly-maintained state; sadly that was what happened after, not before the sale. We would encourage people with a connection to the Hospital  and local historians to see this collection.  

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News from the past

To understand the Cemetery's current situation, It is useful to reflect on it's history using the records of newspaper coverage from the time. We will produce a series of articles over the next few months but begin which a piece from the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times from September 2000, a month before the sale of the Cemetery

But where did they come from?

People who have had no prior contact with either Calderstones or Brockhall often ask where all the people sometimes referred to as patients, came from. At one time, both hospitals each had over 2000 people who were being cared for, and approximately 500 staff members and their families many of whom were living on the same site. Both populations far outnumbered those in the local villages, and relatively few people from those villages were ever admitted to either hospital.  These two hospitals provided regional rather than local services of long-term or permanent care for people who were said to have an intellectual disability,  previously known as a mental handicap. The North-West region covered a very large geographical areas in which the major conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester had the largest populations and we might expect to find the greater number of admissions to Calderstones and Brockhall coming from those areas. 


Our recent research into the additional Catholic burials has been very useful in identifying the areas from which some of the people may have come from. Unusually, one of the individuals may be local and originally from Longridge; we think three came from Rochdale, four from Liverpool, one from St Helens, another from Oldham, one from Manchester, one from Cheshire County and the furthest from Stoke on Trent. Once admitted to long-term care, very few of these people would have ever returned to their "home" area, where there were no alternative facilities. Instead, they would be assimilated into the Calderstones and Whalley community, to live and die as residents of an institution in the Ribble Valley.. For one of them, William Herk from Manchester, he would set a national record in spending 75 years in Calderstones and Whalley. When people  who still had family connections, died in Calderstones or Brockhall, there was always the option of the body being returned to home areas for burial or interment, if that was the individual's or the family's wish.  For other's, perhaps like William Herk, their "home," was Whalley, not Manchester, and suitable arrangements would be made in that area.

We are continuing the research into this group and hope that we will soon have similar information from  local Church of England communities, as we believe that it had been considerably larger than the Roman Catholic group.



Church Fields

Several members were invited and attended the recent "event" on the Hospital site, marking the formal adoption of the name Church Fields and the beginnings of a new relationship between the wider community of the Whalley district, with the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust. The Event  was planned to  be the first in a series of getting to know each other, and beginning to formulate the exciting future of the services which the Trust is hoping to provide. Members were able to provide a presentation and answer questions on the history and operation of the Caldrerstones Hospital, explaining the link with, and current issues facing the Cemetery. Details of further events will be circulated.

       The Cemetery -2003 

 One of our members, Jean Lord, discovered these Google photos which show what we believe are the graves on the northern side of the path, sometimes known as the RC section, in an area where it was claimed that there were no graves. The date and state of the Cemetery also show how quickly the original headstones had been removed and Colin Arkwright's private cemetery established.


March 2025.

Brockhall Cemetery 2000.

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