![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/St-Wilfrids-meet-up.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt is absolutely amazing how much research Jim Meehan has been able to do for this tour. Twelve graves in all with much detail for each one \u2013 this is just an overview, to get the full fascinating stories you\u2019ll have to see if you can catch the next one .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We met up in front of the church where Jim give us a brief history of the Grade I listed church (the only one in the Wigan Borough).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We then visited our first grave. This was John Coulton \u2013 a colliery worker from Red Rock near Haigh who fell victim of a \u201cbarbarous murder\u201d one night on Wigan Lane in 1840. The perpetrators were two highway robbers from Manchester. The killers were caught and one died shortly after in prison but the other named Anderton escaped the death sentence when the prosecution\u2019s chief witness withdrew her statement (Jim gives the full story of this on\u00a0<\/span>YouTube<\/a>). The next this grave was Robert Clayton\u2019s \u2013 the last Baronet of Adlington.\u00a0<\/span> The next grave was Thomas Darwell \u2013 owner of the Sovereign and Pepper Mills in Wigan and former Wigan Mayor. He was accused of poorly treating his workers but ended up bankrupt and living in poor accommodation next to his former workers (his memorial was erected originally for his wife).\u00a0 It is absolutely amazing how much research Jim Meehan has been able to do for this tour. Twelve graves in all with much detail for each one \u2013 this is just an overview, to get the full fascinating stories you\u2019ll … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/John-Coulton-Robert-Clayton.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Thomas-Darwell.jpg\")
Next came the Stringfellow and Pendlebury family \u2013 including the founder of the famous Wigan department store and his grandson, archaeologist and hero of the Second World War who was executed as a spy in Crete.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stringfellow-and-Pendlebury.jpg\")
Next came the graves of Benstead and Birley families \u2013\u00a0 who were from very different backgrounds but mourned the death of their children in the same way. On the right side of these two is the grave of James Martland Ainscough and his family \u2013 the man who rebuilt Standish Market Place, and built the Wigan war memorial with the help of Giles Gilbert Scott.\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Benstead-Birley-and-Ainscough.jpg\")
Rector Hutton and his family came next \u2013 the influential Rector of Standish for over 50 years.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rector-Hutton.jpg\")
Next two graves, the Celtic cross on the right is that of JB Almond \u2013 the brewer who built the Beeches, now Albert\u2019s restaurant, and lived in Standish Hall. The cross on the far left is that of Nathaniel Eckersley \u2013 mill owner, philanthropist and five times mayor of Wigan (Andy Lomax took over here as it\u2019s his specialist subject).\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Oldman-and-Eckersley.jpg\")
Next to last was the grave of the Turner family which includes the daughter and famous internal soprano singer Dame Eva Turner (she twice appeared on the \u2018This is Your Life\u2019 TV programme).![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Eva-Turner.jpg\")
The tour finished with Jack Barlow \u2013\u00a0 a miner who served in WW1 and survived Gallipoli, the Somme, Arras and Ypres.\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jack-Barlow.jpg\")
<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"