St Mary The Virgin, Deane, Bolton churchyard

[miriamkinga]

Afternoon all

Yesterday afternoon I had a really interesting ramble in St Mary's churchyard.

There are some fascinating old graves including some WWI headstones and a row of graves relating to the Pretoria Pit victims. It was very sad though to see how overgrown the grass was and some broken and leaning headstones.

I believe my ggg grandfather is buried at St Mary's and wondered if anyone had successfully found any family graves there and could give me some tips.

I'm assuming that I'll have to check the MIs for St Mary's to find the grave number but it's such a large area I'm hoping I'll get lucky & there is a gravestone.

best wishes

Maria

[mshrmh]

Maria - the MIs have been transcribed by the Manchester & Lancashire FHS according to GENUKI. Those transcriptions that I've purchased (elsewhere) have included a plan of the relevant churchyard which is a big help 
Hope you're lucky with finding a stone!

[miriamkinga]

Thanks mshrmh, I'll check those out. Fingers crossed 

[Shirleyjjj]

maria , next time your down there give me a holler and ill go with you - the church is not far from wehre i am -

ive take some pictures of some of the graves but i couldnt find what a was looking for - i slipped several times and the ground is subsided at the back - summer is the best time to go when its very dry - it was disappointing as i didnt find what i wanted

i was looking for Eckersley graves and one or two others -

I been to st paul peel , wharton pres , and several others taking pictures (we must be mad) i need to to Farnworth cemetry to get my gr grandfathers 0

andrea

[Mrs. AB]

Hi Maria,

There's a plan of Deane Churchyard on their website.

http://www.deanechurch.co.uk/pg/p057.asp

and worth keeping tabs on findagrave.com.
This is the St Mary's, Deane page with 60 interments.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2314930


Anne

[miriamkinga]

Hi Andrea,  will do - I'm always down on Deane Clough walking the dog.

Thanks Anne I've printed off the map & had a quick wander around - no luck yet

[Shirleyjjj]

ive also got a copy of the plan - a lady in the office at the side of the church let me have one (although i still got a bit lost with it ,  it was a bit better than the one on the web ) i think i was lucky to catch her in -

she had a list of names as well (if you ask her nicely rather than paying the ten pounds of so search fee) but the names i wanted were not on - they were quite old graves and couldnt find them

i think they did have an open day in Easter (last) not sure if it got rained off

[Shirleyjjj]

hi,

we were at the burial ground saturday but the church gates were closed as they have had a brake -in from what i can gather - we were down deane clough and found an ancient steps and path to the burial ground at the back but very slippery and muiddy -
there seems to be another way in via the nursery car park (mind the barking dog!)
other than that i can tell you that the memorial incripts are held in the library at Westhoughton library or there may also been a book in bolton too ,no need to go trudging around blind  these are listed alphabetically , the main gates to the church are  generally open but the main gates to the church were fully locked someone told me there had been an attempted break in so thats why -
there is also a lovely old fashioned  cafe at the side a few yards from the church where they do a lovely cream tea for one pound ninety five and some nice meals too - for anyone wishing to visit and lives far
when i was down deane clough i noticed some of the stepping stones were made up of broken headstones - the walls to the bank are looking an bad shape too, with large trees poking out in some places and althougth the ground gets badly water loggged at the top  the walk is still nice in summer -

[miriamkinga]

Hi Andrea

I don't think I've ever been past the church & the gates have been open - number one dog & I go in via the slippery steps or through the field. Like you say wet feet time just now