Tracing a Grave

Families wishing information on where a grave may be, find it difficult to know where to start their search.

The following will give some points to consider when starting your search.

Fully searchable burials database NOW LIVE!! 

A Grave Search through the Bereavement Services Section

Warrington’s Cemeteries and Crematorium are managed by Warrington Borough Council’s Bereavement Services. The dates below show when each cemetery/crematorium opened. We cannot give any information on deaths before these dates as we do not hold the records for other burial grounds.

• We require the full name and approximate date of death of the deceased. Other helpful information would be place of residence and age.
   
• We cannot supply a date of death for burials before 1996, only the date of burial.
   
• A date of death can be obtained by applying for a copy of the death certificate. These are available from the Register Office for a small fee.
   
• We can carry out searches over a 3 year period in the cemetery requested for a small fee, upon written application.
   
• In the case of a grave being required for burial, the search will be carried out by a telephone request or by a personal visit to the crematorium at no charge.
   
• Applicants can look through the burial registers by appointment, mornings only, with one person in attendance due to restricted space. Protective gloves must be worn. The registers must be handled carefully and returned to staff if required as they are used on a daily basis by staff. Once a deceased has been located, staff can complete a full search for a small fee. Alternatively, help will be given to the applicant to complete the search themselves.
   
• A full search would include a list of all grave occupants including cremated remains. The ages and locations of residents at the time of death, date and purchaser of the right of burial.
   
• Crematorium registers are not available to the general public under any circumstances.        

Register Office

Before you visit the Register Office it would be helpful if you knew:

• Searches can only be carried out over a three year period – usually the year given and a year either side.
   
• Staff at the Register Office cannot undertake research work, this has to be done by yourself.
   
• It is therefore often easier to consult other sources such as information from members of the family. Ask them if they have any family bibles, old newspaper cuttings or photographs and search in back numbers of the local newspapers.
   
• Remember – if we find an entry of death from information supplied to us we can for a fee, prepare a copy of the death certificate.        

Depending on the year in which the death took place, you may be able to find out the date of birth, the age of death and where the person was living at the time of the death. 

What to do if you cannot find what you are looking for:

Reason you cannot find an entry

• You have an incorrect date
  - search two years either side
   
• The person was registered in a different district to their usual address.
  - try other districts
   
• If the person was born, died or married abroad
  - try Overseas Registration Section, General Register Office, Southport        

Other Useful Addresses

Warrington Central Library, Local History Section, Museum St, Warrington
 01925 442890

Cheshire Record Office, Duke St, Chester
 01244 602574

Overseas Registration Section, General Register Office, Smedley Hydro, Trafalgar Road, Birkdale, Southport.
 0151 471 4801

Warrington Family History Group (a group of the Liverpool & SW Lancashire Family History Society) meets on the 4th Monday of each month (except May, July, August and December) at Warrington Centre for the Blind, Museum St, Warrington.

Microfiche copies of death indexes (St Catherine’s Indexes) available at:

For further information please contact:

Bereavement Services, Walton Lea Crematorium, Chester Rd, Higher Walton, Warrington  WA4 6TB

 01925 267731  01925 267732
 bereavment-services@warrington.gov.uk
 

Office open: Monday - Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm

The Register Office, Museum St, Warrington WA1 1JX
 01925 442762

Or visit our Registrars pages.

The Register Office is open Monday to Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm