To many people, graveyards are eerie places, where the November mist wraps itself around sculptured angels and weathered stones creating an atmosphere many would wish to avoid. Hidden away behind old walls and creeping ivy we pass them by, their stillness interrupted only by the fleeting visitor rushing to place a Christmas wreath alongside the grave of a loved one, or a bunch of flowers to mark the passage of time.

Over the years we have come to love the seven acres of consecrated ground on Barkerhouse Road in Nelson. In this protected green space we discover a tranquil oasis, a place where people and nature can flourish together, with the best views in town! Home to over 7000 graves and with more than 17,000 people buried there, it's a mirror which reflects the 19th-century development of a Lancashire cotton boom town which grew from a collection of scattered and marginal moorland villages to become a thriving borough.

There's something fascinating about the Victorian names and the inscriptions. They provide us with a window into the past, into the lives of the many thousands who left their rural surroundings in the Yorkshire Dales, the Fens, Westmorland or even Cornwall. They headed to the cotton mills, quarries and coalmines, lured by the promise of work, better wages and hope for a different future. Their stories are all here.

The stories behind the stones tell us about the weavers, the tacklers, the local farmers, the stone masons, the servicemen, the publicans, the engineers and the entrepreneurs who made Nelson this proud town. Our mission to research, inform and conserve continues. Find out more by going online to:

www.nelsonwarheroes.co.uk‍

www.friendsofstjohnschurchyard.co.uk

Kath Stewart   Elaine Butterworth

The Friends of St John's Churchyard

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