Thread: The Pleck?
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Old 20-06-2020, 22:56   #24
Jems lad
Junior Member
 

Re: The Pleck?

Quote:
Originally Posted by susie123 View Post

That quote was from Willow the Whisp in a 2007 thread about Hyndburn Road.

I have just been reading a book called The Baptist Churches of Accrington & District by Robert J V Wylie which was written in 1923. It was my dad's though I have no idea where it came from as our family have no Baptist associations.

The book has several chapters on Machpelah and says:

Next the river Hyndburn was an open baptistry -as near the river as it could be got. If the Hyndburn had not been characterised by two things - its shallowness and its filth, the baptistry would never have been erected. It was impossible to baptise in the river, so they built a baptistry as near the river as they possibly could, and for years the open baptistry remained, but when they ceased to use it the stones were removed.

The book also says that the chapel was taken down soon after the new chapel was built in Blackburn Road (opened in April 1836) but the schoolhouse remained for some years and continued to be used for funerals. Blackburn Road was superseded by Cannnon Street in 1872.
I remember in the late 1950s one of the vaults in the graveyard was broken open and contents scattered .
I went down to look at the damage , it was quite a large vault , basically 2 rooms one containing the stairs down into it and a second room with shelves on the walls to place the coffins all the bones had been cleared but there were still broken pieces of coffins there .
Sheep were kept in the graveyard to keep the grass short in Summertime .
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