A lost plot marker – a family who left – and two brothers who never met…and perhaps a grandfather and grandmother to boot. Edmund Tattersall Stephenson had a glorious name and a dirty job; that of engine stoker. He had been born in Newchurch in 1860 to John Dewhirst Stephenson and his wife Harriet, formerly …
The Holts and Crowthers were people who loved the high windswept places, and sometimes thrived there…sometimes not. James Holt was born in Todmorden in 1814, two years after his future wife Sally Crowther. Sally was the sister of James Crowther, whose story you might have heard before, and her family were firmly ensconced on the …
Read more “38.16 – James, Sally, James, Greenwood and Sarah Holt”
Lineholme stalwarts here, with a dash of Liverpudlian for good measure. Thomas Sutcliffe was born in 1846, the first child of his parents Joseph and Grace (Rigg) of Lineholme, Lydgate today, on the Burnley side of Todmorden. Joseph was a labourer who soon became a grocer and who spent the rest of his life supplying …
Read more “38.17 – Thomas, Harriet, Willie, Joseph and Eva Sutcliffe”
Gale, Summit, what’s this now; what are these Littleborough folks doing at Christ Church? The answer is of course that they weren’t always from Littleborough…so what’s the story behind this table tomb, one of a very few in the graveyard and the only one in the public area? James Scarr was born in Todmorden in …
Read more “38.19 – James, John, Betty and Sydney Scarr, and Jane and Elizabeth Butterworth”
Love comes late to some of us, and that’s ok. It’s no less wonderful for that! William Culshaw, the senior partner, was born around 1785 in Manchester. His father James was a butcher and sadly that’s the end of our knowledge of William’s life. He became a blacksmith and seemingly never married, although this makes …
Afflictions sore long time I bore, Physicians were in vain, Till God above displayed his love, And eased me of my pain. So reads Sarah Law’s epitaph, and for good reason. Sarah’s origins are unknown thanks to the years in which she got married and the common name of her future husband. She was born …
Generations and generations on one stone – some stories we know, some we don’t, and some we can only guess at. Zechariah Astin was born in Rossendale in 1782, and Betty…unknown last name…was born in Leeds in 1787. These Astins are the famous Astin and Barker Astins, even though they did live at Harley House …
There are five members of the Spencer family in this grave, William, Grace his wife and three of their seven children. We don’t know much about William Spencer; according to the information from the census he was born in 1796 in Stansfield and in his adult life was a farm labourer – that’s all the …
Read more “40.0 – William, Grace, William, Hannah and Grace Spencer”
Thomas Greenwood was one of the children of Robert and Fanny Greenwood who are buried in grave 43.8 with three of his siblings and one of their wives. We’ve heard their stories, but what about his? And why is he here alone? Thomas was baptised at St Mary’s on the 22nd December 1807, and after …
A plot marker with the initials J. D. opened up the story of several Davieses buried here at Christ Church, quite possibly in this very plot. But who was here first? James Davies – our J. D. – was born in Todmorden in 1798. He was a younger brother of Peter Davies at 37.9 and …