- 95 Church Street, Littleborough, Lancashire OL15 8AA
‘Arthur Holdens’ began life in 1893 as a ‘Complete house furnisher, cabinet maker and funeral undertaker’ which was based in premises at 83/85 Church Street, Littleborough.
Funerals were something of a sideline which many furniture makers at the time adopted; Funeral Directors and Chapels of Rest as we know them didn’t exist back then so the body of the deceased would be kept at home, the cabinet maker would be called upon to make a coffin, place the deceased in it and then take coffin to the Church on the horse and cart shown in the acompanying picture.
The building we occupy at 95 Church Street has also got a lot of history to it. It was built in 1866 as Church Street United Methodist Chapel, later repurposed as the Manse when a bigger chapel was built next door. The Church closed its doors in 1939 following the Union of Methodists Churches. It was then used during World War Two by the Ministry of Food for the distribution of ration books and related activities.
After the war ended, the way in which funerals were undertaken was starting to resemble the way things are done nowadays more and more, so Arthur and his son (also called Arthur!) bought this building and set about converting it into the chapel of rest and facilities as we know it today.
Whilst many alterations have been carried out since then and all the Holden family are sadly now deceased, we were entrusted to take the business into our family in the mid 1980’s and pride ourselves on keeping the building, and the way we deal with the people of Littleborough as close to their traditional format as possible.
