Tonge Cemetery⎜Fred Dibnah ⎜The Famous North West Steeplejack ⎜

Tonge Cemetery first opened December 31st 1856 and was the first municipal cemetery of bolton, originally known as Bolton Cemetery.

The cemetery itself covers 7.91 acres with newer graves situated to the left of the entrance and older graves to the right. the right side of the cemetery is non-conformist, the left and centre Church of England and the rear Roman Catholic. Originally the site had three chapels one to the left, right and rear of the plot. However, over time they were demolished with only the Church of England one remaining, this one however is blocked off due to it being in disrepair.

The cemetery has a few notable people buried here.

Thomas McCarte was a famous lion tamer, died in 1872. He was a one armed lion tamer travelling with Manders Menagerie when the lions he was taming attacked him and he died. he had already lost one arm through lion taming January of that year. Around 500 people witnessed his death. In the link below is the full article on his death which was publish in the Bolton Evening News and the NY Times.

Fred Dibnah the famous steeplejack and later TV presenter. He grew up in Bolton and after serving in the British army he returned to Bolton to be a steeplejack. It was during this that he was asked to repair Bolton's parish church which resulted in a boost in publicity. In 1978, while he was making repairs to Bolton Town Hall, Fred was filmed by a regional BBC news crew. The BBC then commissioned a documentary, which followed him as he worked on chimneys, interacted with his family and talked about his favourite hobby steam.

As a commemorative token a bronze statue was built and placed in Bolton town centre with a steam engine preserved in glass placed behind it.

Music by:
https://pixabay.com/users/light_music...

Sources:
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2...
https://www.bolton.gov.uk/burials-cre...
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visi...
http://www.mbaird.mlfhs.org.uk/cempla...
https://anglo-celtic-connections.blog...
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/new...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Di...
https://www.freddibnah.org/about-fred...