Adventures in a Graveyard on a cold December morning

On Saturday 6  December I went into Holy Trinity Graveyard carrying a yard brush, spade & loppers, and two clipboards with plans upon them. I went in via Meynell Avenue, and walked along the path and found a Crossley grave.

I wrote down the entry in my exercise book and later saved it in a new spreadsheet for Meynell North section.
 In Loving memory of Mary Ann beloved wife of John Crossley, Carlton, who died June 14th 1897 aged 72 years.
Also John, husband of he above who died February 10th 1902 aged 72 years
Also William, son of the above Westfield, Carlton who died June 15th 1919 aged 71 years.
Also sarah Ann, wife of the above William Crossley who died Dec.28th 1921 aged 70 years.
Also Samuel, beloved husband of Clara Harrison of Rothwell who died June 2nd 1942 aged 68 years.
Also Clara, beloved wife of Samuel who died March 2nd 1969 aged 93 years.
The grave was easy to spot, just to the right of the path, see below, next to the one with the spade.

I then walked a bit further along the path and turned right to walk along another narrow path.

Then avoiding a pile of stinging nettles and skirted left and soon came to the batch of gravestones I am calling paddock.

In the above photograph the houses in the background are on Church St. The first grave in this section as you can see has collapsed and I can't any names on the stones. This section paddock stretches to the wall of the street called The Paddock which flanks the northern section of this graveyard seen in this photograph below.

You can already see that this area of the graveyard like the rest of it has many trees in it, mostly self seeded I think, which in summer stop grass growing. 

The rows to that wall have been labelled by me from A to kk, so 37 rows altogether. Going along the other axis to Church street I have measured out 31 rows, so there some 1000 graves in this section, not all of them marked by gravestones fortunately.

I walked along the rows towards the wall to row dd, & looking along this row this is what I could see. The stone in the foreground is for a Bennett family, the next stone visible is another Crossley stone. Lying on the ground with a cross on it is for a family called Parnaby.The tall obelisk in the far direction is a stone for the Hargreaves family, one of whom was the mine manager at Rothwell Haigh colliery. I walked towards the Crossley stone and found this

In Memory of George Leonard the beloved son of George and Mary Crossley of Carlton who died Dec 9th 1870 aged 9 months

Also Alice Daughter of the above who died July 27 1892 aged 30 years was blind 27 years

Also of the above named George Crossley who died July 13th 1895 aged 61 years

Also Mary wife of the above George Crossley who died Feb 23rd 1900 aged 62 years

The inscription for the Bennett family stone reads thus:-

In Loving Memory of Martha Cornelia, daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth Bennett of Rothwell, who died 28th May 1866 aged 3 years and 5 months.

Also Walter, their son, who laid down his life for his country at Ypres, Belgium, 20th November 1915, aged 39 years. Buried where he fell.

Also Elizabeth Bennett, mother of the above who died July 10th 1917 aged 79 years.

Also Thomas Bennett who died February 28th 1923 aged 85 years

The inscription on the Parnaby stone reads thus:-

In Memory of Annie Parnaby, daughter of Edward and Anna Parnaby who died May 16th 1869 aged 13 years.

Also of Anna Parnaby, wife of Edward Parnaby, who died December 19th 1871, aged 57 years.

Also John Parnaby died April 3rd 1879 aged 31 years.

Not far away from the Crossley stone was a Broadbent Stone, you can see it here on the right of the Crossley Stone. It reads:-

In Memory of Elizabeth, wife of James Broadbent of Carlton who died June 26th 1873 aged 45 years.

Also of the above James Broadbent who died January 14th 1876 aged 51 years.

Also Ada, daughter of the above who died March 16 1887 aged 22 years.

  Apparently the Broadbent family were related through marriage to Crossley family.

Turning around and looking back towards the path at the end of the row, I saw a familiar sight in this graveyard, a stone upside down. 

There it is in the foreground, and on its left the plinth in which it was original standing in before it was thrown over which cracked the stone. I cleared the undergrowth around it, mostly young bramble shoots and had a better look at it.

A closer examination showed me that it belonged on the plinth to the right of it.

The irregular end of the stone almost fitted exactly on the plinth in the background, but as with all these stones they are far too heavy to lift to turn over by one person. So another stone goes onto the plan as upside down, but at least I can put it in the right row now.

In row 4Z I found another Crossley stone:-

In Loving Memory of Daniel Crossley of Carlton who died March 29th 1890, aged 48 years

Also Henry, son of Daniel and Margaret Crossley who died November 16th 1898 aged 30 years.

Also Margaret, wife of Daniel Crossley who died January 14th 1922 aged 78 years.

Also Margaret Emma Crossley,beloved  niece of Daniel Crossley who died December 20th 1889 aged 3 years.

Then I thought an exciting new find, a round stone, apparently face down, but quite small enough for me to lift over.

Unfortunately no inscription under the stone, but wonder why it is here.

Then another find, a stone covered over by leaves & undergrowth, surely I have both photographed and recorded this already, but a check of my database and no I haven't.

Here is that stone, belonging to a Henry Dean in Row 5 W

In Memory of Jonathan Dean of Carlton who died March 13th 1870 aged 67 years.

Also Henry son of the above who died August 8th 1878 aged 33 years

Also Joseph William son of the above who died October 17th 1889 aged 46 years

Also of Sarah wife of the above Jonathan Dean who died Oct 27 1895 aged 82 years

Here is that round stone and Henry Dean's stone, can't think how I came to miss it before.

And here's another new stone, to a Joshua Jagger, and his wife Isabella in row 5Y.

It has a lovely inscription

In affectionate remembrance of Joshua Jagger who died September 1st 1869 aged 51 years

Tis hard to part with friends sincere

A husband fond and kind

Tis hard to part with a partner dear,

And to be left behind.

Dear wife and children be content

For I was only to you lent;

In love we lived, in peace I died,

Thou asked my life but was denied.

Also Isabella wife of the above who died Oct 17th 1876 aged 55 years.

Another upside stone: In line with the Broadbent stone going towards the wall are a couple of stones upside down. The stone in the distance near the wall belongs to a family called Ely.

Another view of these stones

In fact the one which has sunk into the ground is a stone that I had to rescue a couple of years ago, but it's amazing how fast the undergrowth grows to cover it again.

This that stone as photographed in 2012:-stone 6ii

In Memory of the late Solomon Ward of Royds Green who departed this life June 4 1866 aged 65 years.

Also Betsy Ann, wife of the above Solon Ward who departed this life March 6th 1870 aged 64 years.

Also Joseph Ward son of the above who departed this life Novr 16 1878 aged 45 years

The Ely stone is 6jj

In Loving Memory of Ann wife of John Ely of Rothwell, who died March 31st 1883 aged 55 years

Also the above John Ely who died August 25th 1892 aged 81 years

Also Charlie Higgins who died Dec 16th 1907 aged 42 years

Also Ernest, son of Charlie & Elizabeth Ann Higgins who died June 23rd 1915 aged 22 years

After searching around past some ivy clad stones eventually I came to another Crossley stone in Row 16W

Sacred to the memory of Joseph Crossley of this parish who died August 31st 1871 aged 66 years

Also of Lydia Crossley wife of the above who died Dec 27th 1874 aged 71 years

Also of Mary Elizabeth the beloved wife of Thomas Crossley of Rothwell Haigh and daughter in law of the above who died January 13th 1875 aged 37 years

 Behind the Crossley stone are this line of stones, with another upside down stone, and a small stone that of first glance is somewhat unreadable.

The smaller stone, the unreadable one

However back at home & using Ancestry and magnification of the photographs I have managed to work out that this stone belongs to someone called Collin. There was an Elizabeth Collin buried 15 April 1890, aged 21, who was from Princess Street, Woodlesford. 

Another view of this line of stones showing the late afternoon sunshine, the unreadable-Collin stone is the one close to the broom.

As you can see there is another stone lying face-down in the foreground but according to the plinth the owner is Benjamin & Martha Ward.

By now it was getting a bit cold, so I took a photograph of this enormous ivy bush and some of the stones round about it, a couple of whom are sunken into the ground.

Then I retreated back home again.

Thursday 4 December

Today, Thursday 4 December I called in at the parish office to see Sue who works there as the treasurer of the church. I had seen on the church website the news that during the winter months the graveyard was being mapped out and the photographs and information on the gravestones being sent to Yorkshire Indexers. Rather pleased in one way that someone else was working in the graveyard and mapping it out and sent her an e-mail to see if I could share my information and join forces with this person working in the graveyard. On the other hand I was also a bit miffed that no one had bothered to contact me as I had gone about my survey gaining permission from the PCC and the church knew my contact details.

This is the church website and the article about the graveyard map. http://www.rothwellholytrinitychurch.co.uk/direction.htm 

http://www.rothwellholytrinitychurch.co.uk/grave.htm

Sadly Sue told me that she did not know anything about this project and suggested it really all about my efforts. Whilst in the office I spoke to a member of the church about the graveyard at the front of the church which is very tidy with grass but no gravestones apart from the odd grave chamber. I wondered if the stones had been moved from this part of the graveyard at one time, and the old graveyard grassed over. We agreed that to do this a faculty-permission would have been granted to do so, and wondered where there might be record about it and where the gravestones that had been removed were now. They certainly weren’t in the graveyard itself. I did contact the Diocese office to be told that any records would be held locally or in the West Yorkshire Archives at Morley. Anyway after lunch I returned to the graveyard and using my revised plan tried to work out the grave plot plans again. 

Brown	18aa	Marshall	18bb	Thompson	18cc	Goddard	18dd	Connell	18ee	No stone
No stone	19aa	No stone	19bb	No stone	19cc	No stone	19dd	No stone	19ee	No stone
Edinbro	20aa	No stone	20bb	No stone	20cc	No stone	20dd	No stone	20ee	No stone
Tree	21aa	No stone	21bb	No stone	21cc	No stone	21dd	No stone	21ee	No stone
No stone	22aa	No stone	22bb	No stone	22cc	No stone	22dd	No stone	22ee	No stone
No stone	23aa	Sykes	23bb	Mirfin	23cc	No stone	23dd	No stone	23ee	No stone
No stone	24aa	No stone	24bb	No stone	24cc	Ellis	24dd	No stone	24ee	Whitehead
No stone	25aa	No stone	25bb	No stone	25cc	No stone	25dd	No stone	25ee	Knee
No stone	26aa	No stone	26bb	No stone	26cc	No stone	26dd	No stone	26ee	No stone
No stone	27aa	No stone	27bb	No stone	27cc	No stone	27dd	No stone	27ee	Snowden
No stone	28aa	Wilcock	28bb	No stone	28cc	No stone	28dd	No stone	28ee	No stone
No stone	29aa	No stone	29bb	No stone	29cc	No stone	29dd	No stone	29ee	No stone

You can see from the above section of the spreadsheet that there are more grave plots without stones than with them.

A few of the plots had to be changed as they didn’t work out, I found at least a couple of new stones I hadn’t seen before. I did see what appears to be an ivy tree, which was very thickly spread and I am sure hides yet another stone.

I did take a couple of photographs. I think it says Elizabeth wife of William Wilcock who departed this life December 9^th 1861 aged 61 years. There is another name underneath the first inscription but as yet I can’t read it. I did look at Ancestry, West Yorkshire Burials for Rothwell which confirms the above information.

This is often the state that I find the stones-this one will have to be cleaned off before I will be able to read it properly. You can see how thick is the ivy stem at the foot of the stone.

In 2010 I started this project in the north west of the church, adjacent to a footpath that leads out onto Church St. I have so far completed all the stones in this section, then all the stones to the north of the church which I call North Section, now isn't that strange? It was such a big section that I had to divide it into 3 sections. There is a section close to the church back door which I have named Church Section. I am now working on Paddock, just to the north of North Section and south of a small pathway outside the church boundary called "The Paddock".

Some of the information I have added to Genuki Rothwell:- http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Rothwell/

It's no good recording the information and then keeping it to myself, that's why I am using Yorkshire Indexers, Genuki Rothwell and now this blog too.

Introduction

Rothwell Holy Trinity Gravestone Inscriptions

On 16 November 2010 I started to record the inscriptions on the gravestones at Rothwell Holy Trinity Church graveyard. The reason, well nobody had ever done it completely, there was no map of the graveyard at all, so anyone wanting to find a relative’s grave wouldn’t be able to do so. The graveyard had long been abandoned by the church itself, persons weren’t buried in the graveyard anymore and the church had managed to get the local council to maintain it. Not that they did it very often, and the graveyard was in a very poor state. I had come to notice this graveyard when I saw a former Rothwell resident who had emigrated to Australia who had been asking for someone to photograph their relative’s stone in the graveyard. I went into the graveyard only knowing when the relative called Sidebottom had died and after much searching found the stone tilted on its edge looking as if it would topple over at any time.

 I also found that the graveyard had been maintained by a volunteer who had worked there for some considerable time, mowing it, clearing up the dead branches from the many trees, creating paths and tending to the gravestones. During my survey of the graveyard he and I often would work together to right the stones and dig out stones that had sunk into the ground. It was this volunteer, called Derek who knew where stones were located and when the church received enquiries from relatives he would locate the graves. Derek did not record any positions of the stones, just kept it in his head.I did ask the permission of the church council if I could survey the gravestones and record them and then send the photographs to the Yorkshire Indexers where they would be put online so everyone worldwide could see them.

http://www.yorkshireindexers.info/gallery/browseimages.php?c=90

 I did ask help from members of the local history group, the church itself and others but no one wanted to do so. I did find at the beginning that someone had recorded a section of the graveyard close to Meynell Avenue, using a spreadsheet format with photographs as well. I managed to contact this person who gladly sent me his material. At least that was one section that I did not need to record myself. I am not a surveyor by trade, do not have drawing experience at all, so cannot really draw plans. It would be good if I could label the sections and rows, but so far I haven’t done this.

So that November day I started the project, a task that would take me many years to complete and involve hundreds of photographs and many hours of anguish & frustration, digging, brushing, cleaning of stones and cutting nettles & brambles. What I intended to do was to divide the graveyard into manageable sections and then locate them in the section by way of a spreadsheet format. I soon found however that the sexton responsible for digging the graves did not have a spreadsheet to work from as the graves were often not in an easy layout. There were also many mature trees, with extensive foliage in the summer so no grass would grow, instead Himalyan balsam had taken over along with brambles & nettles, and with the trees covered in ivy which soon spread all around the gravestones. Many of the graves had sunk, maybe as the result of the clay ground or even mining subsidence, so the stones had sunk into the ground. Some of the stones had been toppled over, not by vandals but deliberately by responsible people worried that loose stones might topple on to a person and injure them. However with stones toppled over face down, it was impossible to right them so read what was written on them. See below for a typical view of the graveyard stones in summer.

 Eventually by the Autumn of 2012, which I see was my last section of photographs I stopped the project-I was fed up with it-nothing seemed to work out out at all and I was fed up battling the undergrowth. Starting again after 12 months of not doing anything was a bit daunting, but following communication from a family history researcher looking for her Crossley gravestones took me once more into the graveyard on a damp morning with the gravestones covered in water. The graveyard looked as if it had been cleared recently, there wasn’t any Balsam around, but then it was Thursday 27 November. I did take some photographs and tried to plot the positions of the gravestones but soon found that it was very difficult again. Back at home I looked at the photographs and soon realised that I would have to wait for a drier day.

The only way forward it seemed to me was to take the earlier spreadsheet and print out the plan so far, then go with the plan, and see if I could get the graves to fit. It was quite difficult as there were gravestones and then graves with no stone, then stones upside down, and making them all fit in line together very difficult. I would walk along the line of the graves, writing down the names and grave numbers in an exercise book, and then when I had completed one row, go the next but when I got to the end of that row and then walked along other axis, I did not join up the rows properly. After several attempts I found the only way was to divide the whole section into two halves, with the first half up to 17, and the next half from 18 to 29. Then working along row 18 and writing down the stone names, and marking no stones on the plan too. Then going to row 19 and doing the same; so that eventually I had a pattern. Then doing the other half, going along row 17, and then row 16. I found that some of the graves I had put in the wrong section so that when it was put right I caught then merge both halves of the graveyard together again.

Every stone has to be photographed, then the details copied into an exercise book. Back at home, using google Picasa, I crop all the photographs so I can read the inscriptions some of which are very poor. I can also check the dates on Ancestry which has the records of Rothwell burials in it.