Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

I would think that very old burials would long since have crumbled to dust. It takes time, but several hundred years should do it. It's only in certain conditions (peat bogs, embalming, etc) that anything survives. We probably walk over hundreds of ancestors every day.

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Probably wrong, but could have sworn this graveyard was on the left going out of town from the roundabout, and would be opposite the car park. Willing to stand corrected of course.

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Memory can play strange tricks on even the best of us. Happily, we have maps as an aide memoire, so to speak.

This one is of Accrington in 1898 and shows the layout of buildings along Hyndburn Road, shown in pink, the River is shown in blue and the graveyard is shown in green. Accrington town centre is to the right, Blackburn Road is beyond the bottom and Church is to the left. As you can see the buildings to the left as you head out of town towards Church were occupied by the town's Abbatoir, (Ahh happy saturday morning memories of that place)the spot is now occupied by Macdonalds.

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Can't argue with that Bob .. still .. wasn't another one further up was there ?? :)

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Two things that might help. First, spray small amounts of water from the direction of the light until it the inscription begins to show. Or go to the local studies library and look up the inscription in the book of burials for that particular burial ground.

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Would be exciting though as per original thread if something could be found. Would, skeletons apart, surely some evidence not have been found when we sunk the pits locally, understand that Huncoat is one of the oldest parts around here.

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

I would have thought that some parts of Accrington and her sister townships would be quite scary to the living when you compare what’s been done to the landscape we live in and within the subterranean world that’s beneath your feet.

Hundreds of tunnels and shafts traverse the underworld; some possibly go back beyond the Romans and the earth certainly moves for some. Anyone remember the cave on Ormrod Street in the late 60s or early 70s. Things like this must have occurred hundreds of time over the centuries.

Our landscape is also scared by surface mining, clay use for Nori, local quarrying and the come, and going of the Railways. Land clearance may also have occurred due to the Activities of the church itself, and not least at the time of the Abbey that once stood within our boundaries.

All of this and more will have had an affect on the graves of our Ancestors. Its what we do to establish what’s left that is of importance now.

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Yes you are quite right Bob...I was talking to somebody this morning about the cemetery and he said they used to put sheep in the graveyard to graze whilst waiting to go into the abattoir across the road. As your map indicates he was wrong. Or maybe in later years this did happen? Anybody know?

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

I did try to look below the grass line and could find nothing, but then felt like I was being disrespectful if I went any further. Plus I had kids sat on the wall telling the friends on the ground everything I was doing!!!

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Yes seemed rather ironic to me too! But it happened and I've got this from a very reliable source. All marbles intact!....Can't find a smilie anywhere but it was meant to be a big grin! Cheers!

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

This is in reply to Willow The Wisp! Lost it somewhere along the line!:rolleyes:

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

Hundreds of tunnels and shafts traverse the underworld; some possibly go back beyond the Romans and the earth certainly moves for some. Anyone remember the cave on Ormrod Street in the late 60s or early 70s. Things like this must have occurred hundreds of time over the centuries.

All of this and more will have had an affect on the graves of our Ancestors. Its what we do to establish what’s left that is of importance now.[/quote]
Talking of tunnels, there used to be one that ran from the Black Bull pub (now the entrance to Arndale car park) up to the Police station, as in the old days it was used to take prisoners to court.

I also remember the grave yard opposite what is McDonalds now but we used to call it Broughtons. It was very unkempt and kids used to play in it.

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

I seem to remember loads of church yards around accy.

I can remember the lad that lived at Bottoms up Green Howarth found a Skull in the field opposite the School. We played us it for about tem minutes before taking it to Miss Hoyle who made us put it back.

I seem to remember a policeman in a moggy coming up from ossy and declaring it to have been ploughed up at sometime in the past and gone unnoticed. But I didn’t think that any burials had taken place at Green Howarth and the Church/School only dates from the mid 30s

Re: The riddle of the missing bodies.
 

I wonder why it was named Macpelah? It doesn't sound like a word native to round here.

We were nattering about this the other night ...... wasn't there another old cemetry between the petrol station and The Swan? I think it became The Swans car park?