Jesse Hiley

The first Hiley grave at Christ Church in this series of posts is the unmarked grave of Jesse Hiley.

Click on the box in the top right hand corner to read an account of Jesse and his family.

Christ Church, Todmorden

Christ Church, Todmorden was one of the 'Million Churches' built in the industrial North of England from money paid out of the £1m indemnity obtained from the French following the Napoleonic Wars. The church opened in 1832 although a graveyard had existed for some years previously.

The intention in building it had been to replace the existing St Mary's Church but unrest arose among local people, who felt the new church had been built for the benefit of the rich.

In 1866 Todmorden became a parish in its own right and Christ Church was designated the parish church. St Mary's, which had been closed, re-opened as a chapel of ease. Christ Church closed in 1992 and was sold to a private buyer in 2004. St Mary's continued as a place of worship and was re-dedicated as the parish church of Todmorden.

There are 7 Hiley/Highley graves at Christ Church, along with a number of others with Hiley/Highley family connections. The next few posts will give some brief descriptions of the people buried there.

Henry's Tour of Littleborough in 1986 (Part 5)

 This post concludes Henry's tour of Littleborough in 1986.

The same field, looking towards Hollingworth Lake. The ‘pavilion’ stood just behind where I am here. The valley down from the lake embankment became a site for the council tip. As the refuse crept nearer and nearer to our cricket field, I suppose the air became less fresh.

On one occasion we were playing Littleborough Baptists. Robert Holt, an ill-natured youth, fancied himself as a fast bowler. Aided by his brother, Raymond, more by the Baptists’ umpire, diminutive Joe Howard, he ‘dismissed’ me after a monstrous series of false appeals. Joe’s patience did not hold.

 

 

 

Durn Baptist cricket field, as it is in 1986, little better than it was in 1935. Rochdale Canal in the distance.

This picture was taken from the site of the Baptist Chapel. We used to play billiards on a small table, darts, and table tennis, in the cellar. Derrick was scorer before he started to play. Barbara was organist. She and I were married there in 1944. The chapel closed soon after the end of the war. It was used for light industry until it was destroyed by fire in 1985. One or two very elegant dwelling houses now occupy the site.

Look out for more excerpts from Henry's memoirs in forthcoming posts in this Blog

Henry's Tour of Littleborough in 1986 (Part 4)

 

The first building housed the offices of E.K.Taylor & Sons, builders, Ebor Street, Littleborough. Beyond them were the joiner’s shop and builder’s yard. Barbara worked here after a short period unemployed. Her first job from school had been in a furniture retailer’s shop in Rochdale. Derrick went here straight from school. Taylor’s became an important firm, setting up shop in the Treforest Estate in SouthWales during the depression. They were Methodists on Sundays. The most colourful character was Herbert Hurst, the foreman joiner. He kept wicket for Littleborough from 1904 to 1932, standing well back for Fred Webster.

We have now gone under the arches, past Ebor Street, a short stretch along Blackstone Edge Road, then right over the canal towards EALEES.

Further up Ealees, past the mill where Grandpa (Wilfrid K.) used to work. What you see here is the cricket field of Littleborough Parish Church, who played in the Sunday School League. We called the wooden building the Institute. It had gym equipment – parallel bars and rings.

The ground was so small that a boundary only counted two. To score four you had to hit the ball out of the ground. The boundary on two sides was a stream. 

Our gang was playing in the water one day in the mid 1920s when an aeroplane landed on the field at the top of the hill on the left of this picture. We all dashed up there, and were able to tell the pilot, who was lost, where he was. He then taxied away and flew off.

These sheep are grazing what was the ‘square’, actually just one wicket used either by the 1st XI or 2nd XI of Littleborough Methodist Cricket Club in the Sunday School League. If only I had collected 1d for every ball lost, and searched for, on practice nights. At the end of the 1939 season, members took various pieces of tackle home for the winter, as always had been done. The club played no more games. I had the set of wickets, and still set them up on the Grammar School field, or on Queens Park in Windermere. The bat I had from those days was a Gunn & Moore ‘Cannon’.