This unusual tomb, one of only two in the graveyard, holds a parent and child – vicar and singer – two figures whose time in this town was relatively brief but who were essential parts of people’s lives here. William Augustus Conway was born in West Derby near Liverpool in 1821, one of the children …
Read more “37.11 – William Augustus and Maria Louise Salusbury Conway”
Many people stand on their principles at some point or another – few follow those principles to jail. Herbert followed his to jail not once but twice…but his principle was that he wouldn’t pay child support “and would not be made by the best man breathing”. We can’t all be heroes! There isn’t much to …
This was research I [Researcher Sally] didn’t intend to do, but getting one birth certificate was like opening a treasure chest of information! I was researching the Crowthers when I saw a baby’s burial at Christ Church (Fred Crowther) on Holly’s tree. He was all on his own (the GRO index showed he was illegitimate) …
Three generations of women, linked by one man, all resting here with him. Maybe it was a case of safety in numbers? Sally Barker, the first person buried here, is the matriarch. She was born Sally Fielding (or Fielden) in 1802, and married John Barker at Heptonstall in 1824. He was an agricultural labourer a …
It’s curious that this mother and son have a gravestone, because their lives were marked by poverty. Some of this was circumstantial, and some…inherited… Hannah Cunliffe was born in 1830, the illegitimate daughter of Ann Cunliffe of Burnley and later Heptonstall; and the story here really starts with Ann. Ann was one of many Cunliffes …
This is mainly a story about some Stephensons of Hanging Ditch and the routes they took in life – however far they travelled they always came back, and now they aren’t about to travel anywhere anytime soon… At two ends of the age spectrum are a pair of siblings, Sarah (aka Sally) and James. Sarah …
Read more “37A.26 – Mary, Benjamin and Sarah Bottomley, and James, Wright and Sarah Ann Stephenson”
This is one of our mysteries of the graveyard, and a tale about the power of grief and shame. Caroline Coles was not a poor woman, and her husband not without some local prestige; so where’s her grave, and where are her two children who are buried here? They might be at this plot marker …
Read more “Caroline Elizabeth Coles and her children (location unknown)”
This story was at times frustrating, but still fascinating – given that it spans 141 years that’s hardly a surprise! James Turner was born in Spotland in 1773. He grew up a weaver, of course, and made his way to Walsden and to Knowlwood specifically. At some point he married the first of his two …
Read more “39.3 – James and Betty Turner, and John and Sarah Ann Sunderland”
If you’ve been following for a while then you’ve already met quite a few of these Fieldens, but here’s some from another generation back. Charles Fielden was born in 1842, the son of Abraham and Mary (Gibson) Fielden of Wadsworth Mill, Shade. He was their second child and second son and his time on this …
There is only one person named on this low, sinking gravestone – Sidney (or Sydney) Jackson – but he may not be on his own. Sidney was born in Lion Street, Todmorden on the 3rd October 1863. Only his mother, Ann Jackson, is named on his birth certificate, his father’s name is left blank. He …