There are five members of the Spencer family in this grave, William, Grace his wife and three of their seven children. We don’t know much about William Spencer; according to the information from the census he was born in 1796 in Stansfield and in his adult life was a farm labourer – that’s all the …
Read more “40.0 – William, Grace, William, Hannah and Grace Spencer”
A plot marker with the initials J. D. opened up the story of several Davieses buried here at Christ Church, quite possibly in this very plot. But who was here first? James Davies – our J. D. – was born in Todmorden in 1798. He was a younger brother of Peter Davies at 37.9 and …
What a story we have here – a slew of coincidences, international travel, and a reminder from the bottom of this stone to “be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye know not, the Son of Man cometh.” Allen Langthorn, or Langthorne as he appears elsewhere, was born in 1860 in Newchurch …
Read more “38A.33 – Allen, Sarah and John Langthorn, and Matilda and Ernest Barker”
This grave is one of the very, very small number of table tombs in the yard. Does that denote someone special? Not many people in this town have a street named after them, but then, if you’re the one who built it then you get to do as you please. Hammerton Terrace is named for …
Read more “39.29 – William Holden, Adam, Alice, Robert and James Mills”
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 …
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”
Here are some more members of the Lord family of Canal Street Works fame, but from a slightly lesser known Lord brother: Abraham. The story here starts with his first wife, Emm. It also covers the lives of two of her sons…one to be proud of (or at least not disappointed by), and one to …
Read more “41.12 – Andrew, Emm, Mary Ellen, Sam, Willie and John Lord”
These stones, one in the public area and one in the private, contain most of what was once one of Todmorden’s more well off families; mill owners, teachers, railwaymen, and housebuilders (and that’s just to start). Once upon a time, 1787 to be exact, there was a building at the bottom of Ferney Lee Road …
Mary Ormerod, in this triple-sized grave, gets a story page all of her own. Why? Because Mary is a unicorn in the graveyard, and because she is the quintessential “lost woman” in her family’s story. Mary was born Mary Stansfield, in 1815, to corn miller William Greenwood of Scaitcliffe Mill and…well. This is why she’s …