These Congregationalists are just a small fragment of a large, blended, and ultimately rather mysteriously tragic family. The tragedy of this family is a fairly standard one for its time, if an exaggerated version of it. Medicine wasn’t all people wanted it to be back then. But even so… To start at the beginning we …
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”
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”
If you’ve ever had a pint at the Black Swan that was, or the Polished Knob that is, then next time you’re there raise another to this publican family who did their best by the place through good times and bad. This story begins with two Greenwoods – Robert, who was born here in Todmorden …
Read more “43.8 – Robert, Fanny, Henry, John, Sarah and William Greenwood”
This double plot has two gravestones, and each one names a host of people. It “begins” with Fieldens but also incorporates Hollinrakes, so strap yourselves in for an occasionally convoluted tale of leatherworking, firefighting, early deaths and ripe old ages. Most of all it’s the story of one of the church’s most fierce and loyal …
Read more “43.56 and 43.57 – Thomas and Esther Fielden and family”
Two widows, two different experiences – what a difference a handful of half-grown children makes. Everyone in this story were born outside of Todmorden, so be patient and kind, their stories deserve telling too… Up on the Mytholmroyd hills, in 1832, Richard Crossland was born. Richard’s father Joseph was a stonemason from Dewsbury and Richard …
Read more “43.59 – Walter, Richard and Fanny Crossland, and George and Mary Hartley”
These pillars of the parish suffered great losses and witnessed great things – they’re some of the few here who if their bones could talk would tell us so much about Christ Church and the graveyard. George Stansfield was born in July 1815 in Todmorden, the son of warper John Stansfield and his wife Mary …
Right at the front row of vaults stands this cross commemorating four siblings and a man who married into their family – the branch of the Greenlees family that was concerned with shoeing and veterinary practice at Der Street. This story is one of sisters who were doing it for themselves and a brother whose …
Read more “V1.5 – Charles Henry, Sarah and Alice Greenlees, and Arthur and Henrietta Corbett”
Two William Henry Robinsons are buried here, or rather one is buried here but two are named. A father and son who both died young, the wife and mother left to mourn them, and the second man in her life (and the only one who outlived her). The first William Henry Robinson was born in …
Read more “28.28 – William Henry Robinson (x2) and Alice and James Thomas Highley”
The people above are buried here, under this lancet-laid-flat in the lower yard. Emma Jane is last in the title of this story but she’s the thread that ties everyone else together. This grave contains her first and third husbands and her two sons and a daughter in law, as well as four unnamed infants. …