Denton Burn, West Road, cemetery and crematorium

HER Number:
13237

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Denton Burn, West Road, cemetery and crematorium

Place:
Denton Burn

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Funerary Site

Site Type: Specific:
Crematorium

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
Opened in October 1934 at a cost of nearly £54,000. The architect was J.J. Hill. It was supposedly the only crematorium between Edinburgh and Darlington and was meant to solve Newcastle's burial problems. The cemetery includes the 1939-45 war memorial (HER 10961 and 11930) with around 40 headstones. There is an area for Muslim burials in the south-west part of the cemetery. The crematorium includes the loggia with memorial tablets fixed to the walls, a Garden of Remembrance for scattered ashes and a room with a Book of Remembrance. The first official cremation took place at Woking Crematorium in 1885. Until 1932 less than 1% of deaths were followed by cremation. In 1991 the figure was 71%.

Easting:
2074

Northing:
6536

Grid Reference:
NZ20746536

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Alan Morgan, 2004, Beyond the Grave - Exploring Newcastle's Burial Grounds, pages 120-121; Hilary J Grainger, 2005, Death Redesigned, pp 459-60; National Monuments Record Monument No. 1528449