Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and Burial Ground

Nestled into the south-west facing hillside at Throstle Bower on Saltonstall Moor is an isolated and exposed burial ground. No ostentatious Victorian tombs here. No monumental stonework structures. No ornate and fanciful ironwork. No church or chapel either. And yet, this quite unpretentious burial site possesses a peaceful and very special presence; a dignity and character all of its own. This truly is a final resting place befitting the industrious and enterprising weaver-farmer families that once populated the scattered moorland farmsteads of upper Warley. This truly is a final resting place that can partly compensate for the mill-shackled lives endured by all those operatives once employed within local textile mills during the industrial revolution. This truly is a final resting place appropriate for all those who once enjoyed the freedom to explore the expansive moorland hinterland and all those who were once seduced by the serenity and great visual pleasure of Luddenden Dean.

Now referred to as Luddenden Dean Cemetery, this consecrated place at one time enveloped a plot of land upon which stood the unassuming gritstone structure of Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. Opened on 25 December 1828 this much used and much loved chapel served its parishioners and its community well. But sadly today, only the chapel footprint remains. Engulfed by a ravenous fire during the night of 4 January 1954 the chapel was no more. Chapel building destroyed. Religious service ended. Social gatherings curtailed. 125 years of history brought to a dramatic end.

By chance the burial registers remained intact – by a stroke of good fortune they were not in the building at the time. And today the burial registers, of which there are four in number, remain in the safe keeping of the West Yorkshire Archives at Halifax Central Library.

Burial Register 1 (1828 – 1874)

Information taken from Burial Register 1. Also included is an introduction, an index of surnames, an index of place names and a simplified plan of the burial ground plots – available here as a series of five .pdf files.

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 1- Introduction

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 1 – Plan of Burial Plots

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 1 – Index of Surnames

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 1 – Index of Place Names

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Information from Burial Register 1

Burial Register 2 (1874 – c.1914)

Information taken from Burial Register 2. Also included is an introduction, an index of surnames, an index of place names and a simplified plan of the burial ground plots – available here as a series of five .pdf files. 

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 2 – Introduction

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 2 – Plan of Burial Plots

Luddenden Dean Wesleyn Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 2- Index of Surnames

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 2 – Index of Place Names

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Information from Burial Register 2

Burial Register 3 (c.1914 – c.1945)

Information taken from Burial Register 3. Also included is an introduction, an index of surnames, an index of place names and a simplified plan of the burial ground plots – available here as a series of five .pdf files.

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 3 – Introduction

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 3 – Plan of Burial Plots

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 3 – Index of Surnames

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 3 – Index of Place Names

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Information from Burial Register 3

Burial Register 4 (c.1945 – 1979)

Information taken from Burial Register 4. Also included is an introduction, an index of surnames and an index of place names – available here as a series of four .pdf files.

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 4 – Introduction

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 4 – Index of Surnames

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Burial Register 4 – Index of Place Names

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – Information from Burial Register 4

Monumental Masons.

Since 1828 many different masons have been commissioned to carve words of remembrance onto headstones and tablets at Luddenden Dean. A number of them left their mark – in the form of an individual name or company. The names of these monumental masons and companies were included in the database of monumental inscriptions published by the Calderdale Family History Society. It is from this database that a complete list of known masons and companies has been compiled and made available in .pdf format.

Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Burial Ground  – Monumental Masons