HELP WITH FINDING FAMILY GRAVES

For those family historians looking for family graves the starting point is the Lancashire online Parish Clerks website. This site aims to extract and preserve the records from the various Lancashire parishes and to provide online access to that data, FREE of charge.

Burials prior to the opening of Burnley and Padiham cemeteries will be found in the church burial records on the Parish Clerks website and you may need to find Monumental Inscription records to locate graves in the churchyard (usually found at local libraries and at Lancashire Archives in Preston).

Burnley Cemetery was opened 1st June 1856,
Padiham St. John’s Road Cemetery 23rd February 1857,
Padiham St. Leonard’s Blackburn Road Cemetery 27th May 1853. 
Some burials continued in Churchyards after this time in family vaults.

 

SEARCHING FOR GRAVE NUMBERS. 

Go to the Online Parish Clerks website - www.lan-opc.org.uk/ - click on the ‘Registers’ section of the contents on the left hand side of the screen.
At the bottom of the registers page click on either B for Burnley or P for Padiham.
On the Burnley page you will need to scroll almost down to the bottom of the page to find the Burnley churches (including those in Briercliffe, Cliviger and Worsthorne) and Burnley Cemetery.   The Padiham St. Leonard’s Church and St. John’s Cemetery appear at the top of the Padiham page.

Click on the name of the church or cemetery and then on the burial records when you will be given a choice of date ranges with or without a surname index. If you have not got a precise date you may be better using the surname index where you will have to click on the name which will then take you to the exact record.  For the cemeteries you will find a grave reference and for Burnley Cemetery you can then search under the grave reference (go back the Burnley Cemetery page) to find others buried in that grave.

 

SEARCHING FOR GRAVE LOCATIONS using the reference number

BURNLEY: On the Burnley Cemetery page of the Online Parish Clerks website you will find a detailed description of the grave numbering system and a map of the cemetery which can be downloaded.  If you enlarge the map you will be able to see clearly the grave numbers at the corner of individual plots.  Allthough the sequence of these numbers is not always  straightforward it does give a clue about which plot to start looking in.  Find the plot where you think the grave is located (check the religious denomination of the plot on the plan to see if it ties in with your relatives denomination) and then when at the cemetery look for a grave number on a headstone (usually on the back or low down on the base plinth) which is near to the number you are seeking and try to follow it along the line of graves.  This can be difficult if there are many gravestones missing.   Bear in mind too that some of the numbering can stretch across into the adjoining plot.

 

PADIHAM ST. JOHN'S ROAD: On the Padiham Cemetery page of the Online Parish Clerks website you will find a map of the cemetery which you can download. For the newer, western part of the cemetery (Plots 7 to 28) you will see the grave numbers marked at the corners of the plots giving a guide to which plot to start your search.  In the older, eastern part of the cemetery (Plots A to C) no numbering is given but you can right click on the images of the individual plot plans below and see a larger plan or save a copy to your computer.

 

Padiham Cemetery Plan Plot A     Grave Numbers in Padiham Cemetery Plot B1    Grave Numbers in Padiham Cemetery Plot B2    Grave Numbers in Padiham Cemetery Plot C    Grave Numbers in Padiham Cemetery Plot C1

 

Look for the grave numbers on the backs of headstones or at the base of plinths.

PADIHAM ST. LEONARD'S: 

Grave Numbers in Padiham St. Leonard's Cemetery

The cemetery is divided into Divisions - divisions 1 to 6 are within the original part of the cemetry and divisions 5A, 5B, 7 and 8 are within the later extension. The individual graves are in rows within the division and the numbering gives the Division, row and position in the row. The black dot shows the position of the Chapel.  Some of the paths no longer exist and it can sometimes be difficult to find some plots.

Right click on the plan to see a larger version or download the plan.

 

 

 

NEED HELP

Please contact us with as many details as you can and we will do our best to help you find the grave you are searching for.