We stand here by the unmarked grave of Minnie Rowland, Ralph Rowland and Charlie Rowland. Please be warned that this story contains graphic details about the death of two children. Their story touched us deeply, and left us with many questions. Maybe, after hearing this, you’ll want to talk about what we’d like to do …
Read more “15.17 – Minnie, Ralph and Charlie Rowland (unmarked)”
The Cardwells and Parkinsons are a good example of how migration from Lancashire to Todmorden had begun long before the Fieldens had become a powerful economic concern, and of the circuitous routes it could take! Thomas Parkinson was born in 1813 in Preston. Thomas’s father William was a weaver. A few decades earlier Thomas would …
Read more “53.60 – Thomas and Alice Parkinson, and Margaret and James Cardwell”
The graveyard is full of stories where good, bad, neutral and unknown meet and combine, and this grave is (possibly) a perfect example. Sarah Grindrod, her daughter Doris, and an unnamed and unknown grandson rest here. Sarah was once Sarah Halstead, born in 1879 to Reuben and Lucy Ann (Dean) Halstead. One of the younger …
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 …
“Thy Will Be Done” is seen on many stones here, but sometimes the line hits a little harder. This would have been a hard line to have engraved if it had been done at the beginning of the inscription. It would have been an even harder one to engrave after the last person we believe …
Read more “31.32 – Sabina, James Holland, Sarah and Henry Flint”
We’re quite often drawn to the large and obvious, sometimes the small and quiet can go unnoticed. Every plot though has at least one burial (most have several) and interesting stories can be found wherever we choose to look. Without ordering a death certificate the cause of death for little George Edward is unknown, from …
We stand here next to the grave of Willie Crowther – not the one with the beautiful light grey granite cross, but the unmarked space to the left of it. Yes, he is related to John Crowther, whose story you heard earlier… it is in fact his son. You will recall the statistic we gave …
We stand now by the unmarked grave of Rose Gibson. She was born Rose Harlow in 1845 in Derbyshire, and the whole family were handloom silk weavers. It was not a great time to be a weaver, as you history buffs will know, but this family set up was typical. Children were set before looms …
This girl is buried at Christ Church but her burial was not recorded – not the first one from 1916 which appears in the burial register but not the sexton’s book. She was buried the day before Eleanor Hopkinson and it’s tempting to think they’re buried next to each other, but Annie’s grave isn’t marked …
Here lies John Crowther, who died in 1864 at the age of 36. He laid plates for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. He lived at Bath Street with his wife and four children. He had married Rebecca Heyworth in 1855 and they had five children; Sam was the first, and Willie the last. Not much …