Graves in a community cemetery spent this weekend under water after more heavy rain.

Heavy rain fall caused water in the River Tonge to overflow into the Tonge Cemetery, partially submerging many graves.

Tonge Cemetery has had repeated problems with drainage over the years with heavy rain fall this winter highlighting these problems again.

Flooding particularly affects older parts of the graveyard where water cannot flow away freely.

Recent and repeated storms over the last few months have made floods in the cemetery a common feature.

Tonge Cemetery was Bolton's first municipal cemetery, opening in 1865, and became a grade II listed site in 2002.

The cemetery is one of seven cemeteries run by the council, with this graveyard causing the authority many problems.

Bolton Council said that they have attempted to resolve the issue of flooding in the past.

However, the level of the river means means that flooding is extremely likely, and that water simply has nowhere to drain to during heavy rain.

A spokesman for the council recently said: "There can be problems in certain older sections of the cemetery during periods of heavy rainfall because the water cannot drain away into the River Tonge due to the rising water level.

"However, the problem does rectify itself once the rain subsides."

Local residents are still concerned every time the graveyard does flood however.

One local resident, Naomi Turner, contacted The Bolton News and voiced her sadness at the repeated flooding

She said: "It is so sad to still be seeing the cemetery flooding every time we have a downpour.

"These poor souls surely did not opt for their eternal resting place to be a swamp."

The Bolton News reported in 2008 that after almost two years of regular flooding the council had promised to take immediate action to clear drains.

However, it did later admit that fully solving the problem would be too expensive.

The flooding is left to clear naturally after periods of drier weather.

The flooding has subsided over the last couple of days and the Met Office forecasts that the postcode where the cemetery is situated is very likely to be dry over the remaining week, making any more flooding unlikely.

For more information regarding cemeteries in Bolton, visit bolton.gov.uk/burials-cremations.