Mrs Jean Gidman, History of Ormskirk Church Graveyard

Mrs Jean Gidman’s talk about the history of Ormskirk Church Graveyard on 9th Feb 2015.

The Society were delighted to welcome Mrs Gidman who belongs to the Ormskirk & District Family History Society and is very knowledgeable about the history of the Ormskirk Graveyard.
The shape of the churchyard indicates that it is believed to date back to about the Norman Conquest and it could even be older. There is a plan dating from the 1840’s of the oldest part of the churchyard, which is the area immediately surrounding the church, which is held at the Record Office in Preston and an index to the plan was produced in 1848.
In 1850 due to the Cholera Epidemic, the churchyard was extended. Most of this section, the middle section, is between two rows of trees and thanks to Canon Woodruff each plot was give a number and a so records of burials were kept from 1868 to 1899.
A database of burials in that period was compiled from the information held at the Record Office and by the Church. Up to 1906 the records reveal that there had been 45,00 people buried in the Churchyard.