New £2.6m crematorium to open in Northumberland

The purpose-built crematorium and chapel is being built at Northumbrian Woodland Burials, near Felton, and is scheduled to open on October 14.

Blyth has the only crematorium in the county at the moment, so owners Scott and Laura Clarehugh are confident it will be welcomed.

Laura said: “There is a huge demand for a second crematorium facility in Northumberland and we have spent over four years developing our vision for our site.

“We know the driving distances involved in getting to Blyth are far from ideal for people living in the north of the county but we also feel our location next to the A1 makes it easily accessible from the Newcastle direction too.”

It will also be the only private crematorium in the region.

Services will be restricted to six per day, ensuring that mourners do not feel part of a ‘conveyor belt.

"We want that to be our USB,” said Laura. “We want people to feel they have a bit more time here.”

The business has offered only coffin burials since it was established by Scott’s father, Steve, in 2002.

When he passed away in 2015, the business was taken over by Scott and Laura who realised that demand for burials was falling.

"We’ve got a 38-acre site here but were only using five acres for burials so we realised there was an opportunity to use the rest of the site,” said Laura.

The chapel will also be available for use by the wider community.

"We haven’t got a community building around here at the moment so we hope it will become something like a church hall which could host seasonal events,” she said.

The crematorium has no catafalque or curtains, but instead a beautifully restored coffin bier which will be illuminated during the service, with the dimming of the lights marking the end of the service instead.

Underfloor heating using an innovative heat exchanger captures the waste heat produced by the cremator.

A filter which significantly reduces the amount of harmful nitrogen oxides released from the types of coffin used during the cremation process has also been installed at a cost of £30,000.

Five new full-time jobs have also been created at the renamed Northumberland Woodland Burial & Crematorium.