A NEW tribute to nearly 200 people buried in paupers' graves in Horwich will be unveiled during a "one off" re-dedication service.

Residents are being invited to a ceremony to mark the restoration of the site at Ridgmont Cemetery, Chorley Old Road, Horwich, on Saturday, March 5.

The town's civic and religious leaders will be in attendance to mark the reopening of the site following renovation work.

Students from Rivington and Blackrod High School are also expected to provide a musical accompaniment.

A new headstone has been organised, which features a message in tribute to those buried there.

In addition a book featuring the names of all of the 198 men, women and children to be buried at the site is being compiled.

The site at the cemetery will also be landscaped and dirty posts around it will be cleaned.

Councillors at Horwich Town Council were told at meetings last summer that signs and markings in a section of the cemetery were in a bad state of disrepair, and pledged to take action.

A committee was formed including members of the town council, Horwich Heritage and others to arrange the tribute.

A spokesman for the group said: "It's wrong in this day and age that so many people have been buried in this way. It was a much more cruel place in those days, but hopefully now this will put it right.

"This is a massive thing for the town, it is a complete one-off and will never happen again. So we are inviting everyone in Horwich to come down and join together in memory of the people buried here.

"They died in unfortunate circumstances when life was different to how it is today, and now people have a chance to come together and pay their respects."

The cemetery, in Chorley Old Road, was originally opened in 1920, and the first burial in the paupers' site, which is on the top side of the cemetery adjacent to Fleet Street, was on February 27, 1928.

Paupers' graves refer to graves which were paid for at public expense, because the deceased person's family could not afford one themselves.

The book featuring the names of those buried at the site is expected to be ready at the start of next month.

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