The Pleck?

[susie123]

Way back when that chapel was first opened the river was fairly clean.

You were there then were you Walter?

I'll grant you that as the building was occupied first in 1765 the river would have been clean-ish as there wouldn't have been much industry. The shallowness might still have been a problem for a good dunking.

 

[Retlaw]

You were there then were you Walter?

I'll grant you that as the building was occupied first in 1765 the river would have been clean-ish as there wouldn't have been much industry. The shallowness might still have been a problem for a good dunking.

Clever devil, that church was in use before the river got polluted by the local printing works. Read your history's of Accrington, and its development.
Retlaw

 

[Frank T]

A lot of the cattle and sheep taken down Sandy Lane came from farms up Sandy Lane, I used to help my uncle and farmer Philip Flanagan drive the animals down to the abbatoir I can`t remember the name of the street location. It was usually done at weekends but may have been done midweek when I was at school.

 

[Jems lad]

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 Blackburn Road was superseded by Cannnon Street in 1872.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 .

 

[Jems lad]

A lot of the cattle and sheep taken down Sandy Lane came from farms up Sandy Lane, I used to help my uncle and farmer Philip Flanagan drive the animals down to the abbatoir I can`t remember the name of the street location. It was usually done at weekends but may have been done midweek when I was at school.

I remember Mr Flanagan the shepard who drove the flocks of sheep through the town centre to the slaughterhose , just him and two dogs .
He ended his working life at Mullards Simonstone glass factory .

 

[joaner3]

Absolutely correct Cashman. It was indeed a very old Baptist Chapel known as Machpelah. It was on Hyndburn Rd, near to where we once had the old gasworks (Electricity St area of town). Hyndburn Road used to be Hagg Lane in past times. I dont remember the chapel, just the grounds full of lovely old "table top" graves. The graveyard was known as "God's Acre". Many old inhabitants apparently referred to it as "The Baptists in Gas House Lane" (being the area where the gas works also was). And yes, there's where the poor sheep and cattle had their last nibble of grass before "being taken across the road".

Homebase on Hyndburn Road now built on the same site.

I remember the graveyard, my uncle Raymond used to work at the abattoirs, he once chased a bull up King Street that had escaped. Also there were holding pens on Paxton Street at the railway station.