# Calderstones Cemetery and War Memorial



## warcorrespondent (Feb 1, 2011)

I am grateful to Andyj23UK for his report on the Calderstones Cemetery prior to the dreadful vandalism that took place in 2008. His pre-destruction images can be viewed [ame="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=5950"]HERE[/ame].

I recently visited and can give an depressing update:

Almost a thousand deceased asylum patients were buried here. When the NHS sold off the cemetery to developers, the headstones were taken away. Where? I do not know, but three remain leaning against a boundary fence. In 2008, vandals destroyed the magnificent garden of remembrance memorial, including its four statues - fragments of which lie on the ground - other parts lie in a heap of rubble next to one of two chapels - equally badly damaged. Two halves of a stone font that was toppled and broken in two lie next to the other chapel. The developers had the idea of using part of the area for woodland burials and renamed it Ribble Valley Remembrance Park. It has since been sold on.

Beyond the mostly barren plot, lies the Whalley (Queen Mary's Hospital) Military Cemetery. During the First World War, the 2,000 bed Queen Mary's Military Hospital was housed in the County Asylum at Whalley, remaining there until June 1920.

A shocking account of the destruction can be found HERE

url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurie-manton/5406205226/]




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RIMG0160 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




DSC_0018 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




DSC_0020 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




DSC_0031 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0171 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0175 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0177 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0182 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0185 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0211 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




DSC_0053 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




DSC_0054 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0229 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr




RIMG0236 by Creating Pictures In My Mind, on Flickr


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## hnmisty (Feb 3, 2011)

They should send the little sh*ts who did that to the Western Front and let them die slowly of gangrene, or mustard gas, or to drown in the mud and never even have a known final resting place. Then see if they are so willing to go on mindless rampages of pointless destruction.

Thanks for sharing!


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## RichardH (Feb 3, 2011)

Deeply nauseating.

I'm not given to violence, but I'd happily carve out the vandals' livers with a rusty spoon.


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## oldbloke (Feb 3, 2011)

*13 peices of silver*

"Almost a thousand deceased asylum patients were buried here. When the NHS sold off the cemetery to developers, the headstones were taken away. Where? I do not know"

Don't forget the Original Vandals.......................


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## RichardH (Feb 3, 2011)

oldbloke said:


> "Almost a thousand deceased asylum patients were buried here. When the NHS sold off the cemetery to developers, the headstones were taken away. Where? I do not know"
> 
> \Don't forget the Original Vandals.......................



You're right. I'll need a large consignment of spoons, pre-rusted.


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## warcorrespondent (Feb 14, 2011)

*Freedom of Information*

I put in a Freedom of Information question about the cemetery and it is worse than I thought . . .

995 patients were buried in the cemetery. There have been no exhumations. Every grave had a headstone. This would indicate that 992 headstones were removed by the developers and disposed of. Presumably for breaking up for rockeries or crazing paving. What an extraordinary act of vandalism!


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## rectory-rat (Feb 14, 2011)

Is there no legal protection against the desecration of nearly one thousand graves.....
Was there not uproar from a thousand angry relatives.......
Shocking.....
:realmad:

-RR


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## Dirus_Strictus (Feb 15, 2011)

rectory-rat said:


> Is there no legal protection against the desecration of nearly one thousand graves.....
> Was there not uproar from a thousand angry relatives.......-RR



The legal protection really depends on what was originally drawn up in the sales contract - the site of the original asylum burials may not even be consecrated ground, making the obliteration even easier.

Your 'thousand angry relatives' is somewhat wishful thinking. You must realise that in a large number of cases it was the family of the inmate that got them incarcerated in the first place - and then they were conveniently forgotten about. The nasty stigma of mental illness rearing its ugly head as always. From the small amount of research that has been done on trying to trace relatives of asylum burials, there are indications that quite a number of people living today have no inkling that a distant relation died in such circumstances. A somewhat sad inditement on some people's family values - hide away the infirm and 'simple minded' so not to hinder one's rise through the social strata. Don't get me started on the motives of some of our ancestors, the more one delves the more disgusted you become!


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## kathyms (Feb 15, 2011)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> The legal protection really depends on what was originally drawn up in the sales contract - the site of the original asylum burials may not even be consecrated ground, making the obliteration even easier.
> 
> Your 'thousand angry relatives' is somewhat wishful thinking. You must realise that in a large number of cases it was the family of the inmate that got them incarcerated in the first place - and then they were conveniently forgotten about. The nasty stigma of mental illness rearing its ugly head as always. From the small amount of research that has been done on trying to trace relatives of asylum burials, there are indications that quite a number of people living today have no inkling that a distant relation died in such circumstances. A somewhat sad inditement on some people's family values - hide away the infirm and 'simple minded' so not to hinder one's rise through the social strata. Don't get me started on the motives of some of our ancestors, the more one delves the more disgusted you become!



i so agree with you, anyone that was not quite the norm, including gay and lesbians hiden in there in case someone catches it. the way they tried to turn them but giving them electric shock treatment. oh and dont forget how people would think if anyone found out there was a queer in the family. thank god things have changed.


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## RichardH (Feb 15, 2011)

rectory-rat said:


> Is there no legal protection against the desecration of nearly one thousand graves.....
> -RR



Here's what I wrote about another bit of corporate vandalism:
[ame="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showpost.php?p=146944&postcount=22"]Link to the ramblings of a drunken solicitor[/ame]

In short: there is no such thing in English law as "desecration", and the criminal penalties only start to kick in if a body is dug up. Damage to a headstone would, in practice, result in a civil action, but only if the owners of the headstone were in a position to bring the action (and were inclined to do so). If the terms of the sale of the land also transferred ownership of the headstones, then the developers can do what they want to them, as long as they leave the bodies in the ground.


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## Lady Grey (Feb 16, 2011)

This is the first time I've been moved to tears from reading a report on Derelict Places.


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## hayabusabart (Feb 25, 2011)

Looking at this has rendered me speechless... all I can say is effin **stards for doing this! hope someone does the same to their graves one day too..


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## dobbo79 (Feb 25, 2011)

RichardH said:


> Deeply nauseating.
> 
> I'm not given to violence, but I'd happily carve out the vandals' livers with a rusty spoon.



I would have said exactly the same thing....only i would have poked their faces with a rusty, bent fork :


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## Curious Dragon (Feb 26, 2011)

Places like this should stay in existance as a reminder of just how far we have come as the human race (well the majority of us). The way we behaved in the past certainly is controversial now but it was the norm back then.
When the headstones were removed it would be nice to think they are still preserved somewhere but as said before that is just not how it works 

To see this kind of damage at a site which should be shown some respect is so sickening and so shameful. I'd be the first in the queue to dish out a little retribution for this kind of attitude and disregard... hopefully one day kharma will come round and bite them on the arse.

Some fantastic photos, well composed and thought provoking. Thank you


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