Darwen Cemetery

A Cross of Sacrifice erected to burials of First World War service personnel stands by the entrance of the older part.

[1] When space for burials in local churchyards became limited the local Board of Health acquired land on the western side of Bolton Road to provide a public burial site.

The plot was divided into separate Church of England, Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist sections, each provided with their own Mortuary Chapels and opened as a cemetery in June 1861.

In 1876 it was enlarged to cover 20 acres and by the end of the Second World War it was again expanded by the acquisition of further land on the other side of Bolton Road, now known as the Darwen East Cemetery.

The cemetery has undergone considerable restoration in recent years by the Friends of Darwen Cemetery, who unveiled a World War One monument on 1 July 2018.