Churchyard No1

Churchyard No1 is the original area within the walls of the church and includes burials within the church building itself.

The parish records of Middleton start in 1541. These registers were published in book form by the Lancashire Parish Register Society and were described in 1905 as "One of the very best preserved and written with which our society has yet dealt". There are a number of years where the registers have not survived, however, as well as the registers, copies were made and sent to the Bishop. These "Bishops Transcripts" have filled in some of the missing gaps.

Until the 1600's grave markers were rarely used, except by the most wealthy, so although we have records of burials, the location is not known. Like many other churches and burial grounds, stones have been removed from inside the church itself, whilst others have been moved to a new position. The grassed area to the south of the church contains burials, but the stones now form the walkways around the building. It is unlikely that any of the stones in this area are in their original position.

Even in the parish records from the 1900's, burials in Churchyard No1 are usually recorded with just a reference to the Churchyard, rather than an individual grave number. For this reason no attempt will be made to identify the grave locations.

In order to identify extant grave stones, the Churchyard has been remapped, split into areas and each stone recorded with a new number. Within the search page Section will show the area, Plot is the individual number in that area and Suffix will be "1" to indicate Yard 1 i.e. SP 32 1 would be South Path, Stone 32, Yard 1

Areas

SP	South Path	Stones along the South side of the church building and the path from the South gate to the vestry door.
EP	East Path	From the North gate past the tower to a drainage channel. Stones to the left of the North gate, stones on the path to the North porch.
ST	South Triangle	The triangular path from the South gate to the South porch. Stones to the West of the porch as far as the drainage channel.
NP	North Path	All stones to the North of the church, including alcoves, the Hopwood Vault and two stones outside the North porch.
WP	West Path	Stones to the West of the lawn, along the West of the building as far as the steps leading to Yard 2.
IN	Inside	All stones within the building itself.