Buried here are a pair of Unitarian royalty – yes, here, not at the Unitarian – we believe underneath the external walkway around the back of the school extension. Joseph and Ann’s birth families are here at Christ Church and so they chose to rest here instead. Joseph Sutcliffe was born in 1840 to James …
Read more “SA.7 – Ruth, Mary Emmyline, Joseph and Ann Sutcliffe”
This grave is “bookended” by two small children, and in the middle lie a mother/grandmother and a daughter/aunt. And who’s really the last one in? Hannah Hollingrake was born in 1819 on the Lancashire side of Todmorden. Her father Abraham was a labourer. We know very little about Hannah prior to her marriage, or indeed …
Read more “SA.8 – Abraham, Hannah, Mary and Thomas Dawson, and Charles Henry Dixon”
A brother and sister together in the grave, keeping each other company for eternity. Hannah Farrar was born in 1825 in the Watty area of Walsden, near Bacup Road. She was baptised at Christ Church the same year by her parents, James and Mary, who were both cotton weavers at Wadsworth Mill at Shade. She …
The SA. and SB. indicators are for rows of graves which are on the school side of the fence, but are not under the extension itself. Some of these are still visible and readable from the school side and some are hidden in some way or other through overgrowth. The plot marker for this grave …
This is another one of the plot markers under the school which we feel confident in identifying – or, at least, half identifying. R. G. we have a strong hunch about, and we think was the owner of the plot. N. O. we can definitely identify as Nathan Ogden. Nathan died of natural causes in …
The Ackroyds are dear to our Chair’s heart, with Fanny being his literal great-aunt Fanny – and this grave is slightly unusual for those under the school for the sheer number of people buried in it. Sadly that’s partly because four of the seven were young children; what was their story? Roger was born in …
Read more “S6.6 – Ada, Agnes, Florence, Samuel, Fanny, Roger and Mary Ackroyd”
This family here hails from London and Shropshire – three generations in one place, far from home for Mary, Edwin and Annie, but a stone’s throw from the only home the two children knew. Mary Howells was born in August 1819 to Joseph and Elizabeth Howells of Wellington, Shropshire. Elizabeth died not long after. Joseph …
Read more “S6.9 – Charles, William, Annie and Edwin Corbett, and Mary Howells”
Plot markers can be difficult things to work out – sometimes the initials are of the plot owner, sometimes of the person buried there. Christ Church’s fairly regular grid pattern allows us to occasionally make an educated guess, and in the case of the mysterious W.H.G. under the school, we can guess that it’s William …
Another instance of two graves which might only be one – and at least one error that leaves us in the dark about what’s actually happening in these two plots. Bridget Faulkner is the oldest person in this story – born sometime around 1833, in Leeds by her accounting, Bridget only appears once on a …
Read more “S6.1 and S6.2 – John and James Thomas, and Bridget Faulkner”
Two newspaper-worthy deaths and inquests in one grave is unusual – this family from Bacup Road was difficult at times to pin down, but the newspapers came to the rescue. Who were the Hollinrakes? Joseph Hollinrake was born in 1842 to Robert and Betty (Mitchell) Hollinrake of Rock Nook, Dulesgate. Located near to Priest Booth …