A short story for these two sisters (maybe half sisters) because we simply can’t figure it out; the Hamiltons are a mystery. Thomas Hamilton was probably born in Leake, North Yorkshire, not far from Northallerton. We’re saying probably because we think we have him on the 1851 Census but after that can’t be certain anymore. …
Schoolmaster – land agent – house builder – railway inspector – all in one? How?? Burnley lad Thomas Newton was born in 1812. There he grew up, and a good brain (not family financial support – his father was a carter) meant he was able to find a better job than most young men in …
This grave holds two sisters, the only children of their parents and another testament to how one’s presence in a particular graveyard isn’t about how much time you spend in a place but about what happens in that time. Charles Raper was from Spalding Moor, and Elizabeth Hides was from Conisbrough, but the two began …
Not every grave has a long story – some are pretty short, because we have so little to work from. This is one of those graves. Maybe you know something we don’t? John Willan and Alice Eckersall were both from Whitefield in Prestwich, and their journey here was probably purely down to the Industrial Revolution. …
Blind Lane royalty, or rather, Blind Lane lifers. Three generations of Dawsons are here and their stories are brief, but still interesting. Thomas Dawson and Esther Fielden (or Fielding) were married in April 1838 at St. Chad’s, only a short time before the birth of their son James. We can’t go further back than that …
Read more “39.34 – Thomas, Esther, Amelia, Susy, Thomas and Arthur Dawson”
Yes, this is going to get confusing very quickly. We’ve already sort of met Thomas Fielden before, via his brother James and their parents Joshua (aka “Old Jossy”) and Betty (Haslam) Fielden of Platts House. Thomas was the second to last child of Joshua and Betty, with Betty dying after the birth of their son …
Read more “39.35 – Three Sarah Fieldens, Ann Sutcliffe and Mary Coates”
This grave holds a father and son, and moreover, a father who was part of this church and graveyard’s history – unlike other clerical graves, it might escape your notice entirely if you were idly walking through, as on the face of it it’s just another flat lancet. Even when it was upright only the …
“Also of five infants” always hurts a little to read, and while four of these infants have their names back, one looks to have never managed to have a name at all… Some of Young Ashworth’s story you will know from that of his parents and sisters at 40.9. He was the second youngest, the …
Read more “38.5 – Young and Ann Ashworth and their children”
Another plot marker discerned, although there are many other unlocated Thorps in this graveyard which raises the question…why here? And who here? The Thorp family hailed from Heath Charnock, between Chorley and Bolton, and most of the children of James and Alice (France) Thorp were born there. The couple had a love of fancy names …
A family who were swept up in the Poor Law Riots, and an emigration that ended in tragedy. Henry Atkinson – the man of the house here – was born in Bowling, Bradford, in 1802. His father was a farmer but Henry was good with his hands and found himself apprenticing to a shoemaker, whose …
Read more “40.40 – William Sager, Henry, Thomas and Rachel Atkinson, and Ellen Horsfall”