Lost toddler in Darlington

[Colin Cruddace]

Hi Sue,

All sections and graves are maintained and preserved, but Health and Safety Regulations were the kiss of death for many headstones

http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/darlingtonhistoricalsociety/page9.phtml
This link should take you to a site dedicated to the West Cemetery. Near the bottom of the page are links to a site plan, and one to an ongoing project of headstone transcriptions. Their numbering system is completely different to actual plot numbers.

As a rule of thumb, if you enter the main gates and walk along the central path, graves to your left are numbered 99 down to 1 and then 300 upover, while those on your right are numbered 100 up into the 200s.

To locate John's plot, it is in section H which is the second section on the left. Several headstones are marked with an actual plot number, usually at the back near ground level, so check for one with WW, XX or YY (or 2W, 2X etc.) to give you an idea of which is row YY. Then follow that row into the section, checking other headstones to confirm the right row and then check for grave numbers
to find one with number 57. All graves with that number are in a line so you should now be able to determine where John's grave is. Of course, the presence of a headstone is also a good clue

Colin

[SigmaMu]

Hello,
I know this thread is very very old but I stumbled across it because of the mention of John Pilkington, his daughter Eliza Jane and son-in-law Francis Martin (these are ancestors of mine).
In particular, user "fielding" says:
"Francis Martin was an architect and is noted for having designed the tall Clock tower in Darlington."
If you are still here, Sue, can you tell me where that information comes from?  Or anyone else, either involved in this thread or not?  There's a particular reason for my question, which I'll be happy to share if anyone is interested.  For my part I will be most interested in anything you can share!

[SigmaMu]

To follow up my own post: I now think it likely that user "fielding" had the information about Francis Martin from my dad - looking through his papers after his death in 2018 I see they had exchanged emails.  Dad himself doubted that piece of "family folklore", since Francis Martin would only have been 20yo when the tower was built (it is true he was an architect born raised and working life spent in Darlington so he may have had some involvement in it).
I finally visited Darlington in 2019.  The Waterhouse Kitchen cafe in the Market Hall makes clear that Alfred Waterhouse designed the Hall and its Clock Tower (and of course Google confirms it), but also admits that the drawings on the wall differ from what was eventually built.