They could have had a hefty monument, but children of three of the town’s wealthiest non-Fielden manufacturers and managers are buried here – you wouldn’t suspect would you? Of course one did have a Fielden connection, but it was purely business. Read on to find out more. Ellena Pilling, the uniquely-spelled first person buried here, …
Read more “42.56 – Ellena, Margaret, William Albert and Christiana Sutcliffe”
There are a great many Dawsons here in the graveyard, many descended from Samuel and Hannah here. One of their sons is also here, along with his wife, and their granddaughter – but not the daughter of the son who’s here. Samuel Dawson, the oldest person buried here, was born in 1816 and christened at …
Read more “42.57 – Hannah, Samuel, Edith Ellen, Elizabeth and Edwin Dawson”
This was a confusing tale to research, complicated by the large number of Greenwoods in Todmorden and the regular recycling of names; we even wondered if one of these couples was first cousins! In the end the relationships were simpler than we feared. This grave holds a couple, their granddaughter, and her (no relation!) husband. …
Read more “42.59 – Sally, William, Charles and Mary Greenwood”
Offcumden who made their home here, or at least near here. Roger Bramley was born in 1784 in Downham, midway between Gisburn and Clitheroe and just north of Pendle Hill. A gothic beginning to a not-that-exciting story. His father Edmund was a farmer and Roger spent most of his life in agricultural labour and farming. …
Read more “43.iv – Roger, Rebecca, James and Agatha Bramley”
This simple flat ledger belies its owners – these Holts were perhaps the most well-off Holts in the graveyard, at least in the public area. Not everyone here was the manager of Waterside Mill and lived at Dawson Weir, after all. Those of you who aren’t keen on the Fieldens, browse to another story, sharpish! …
For the past 2.5 years we have used an old, rickety shed which is perched at the back of the upper slope, below the church itself, as a toolshed. Once it served as the storage shed for the school’s gardening club, but the club folded, the graveyard became overgrown, and the new owners of the …
More Hiley/Highley graves which link to one another here in the graveyard; this one features the parents and siblings of Charles Hiley at 43.52. This branch of Hileys (or Highleys, depending on who wrote the name down at the time) were firmly Lumbutts and Causey Wood stock, but they hadn’t always been this way. John …
Read more “43.ii – James, William, Thomas, Hannah and John Hiley”
We know little about these servant Kershaws, only little glimpses, and most of those only afforded at death. Samuel and Ann Kershaw (both were born Kershaws) were married in January 1822 at St. Chad’s in Rochdale. Samuel was a Rochdale lad, or at least living there, and Ann was a Tod lass from Toad Carr. …
All five buried here, their names too painful or expensive to record; but remembered nonetheless. Of this couple, Ann came first. Ann, or “Nanny” as she was nicknamed, Lord was born around 1803 in Sowerby. John Turner was born four years later in Walsden. Either Ann or her family made the move down to Todmorden …
Read more “43.0 – John and Ann Turner, their five infant sons, and Maria Thomas”
Not all stories are long – not every question can be answered. There are some guesses we can make about Mary here, but they’re guesses. We think that she might have been Mary, aka Mally, Hollingrake of Heptonstall. We know she was born around 1807; so the Mally Hollinrake who was baptised at Cross Stone …