Sesquicentennial Anniversary – Layton Cemetery, Talbot Road

We are 150 years old! This month marks the first interment at Layton Cemetery, Talbot Rd, Blackpool. On the 14th February 1873 John Slater, a gardener at Bailey’s Hotel on the promenade (later to become the Metropole Hotel) was laid to rest in the grounds surrounding Blackpool’s first sanatorium, as the graveyard situated at Blackpool

St Leonard Churchyard

Lancashire folklore delights us with the following tale … on the 12th August 1560, Dr John Dee, minister at Manchester and later astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, attempted to raise the dead near Preston. Along with convicted fraudster Edward Kelley, the two entered the churchyard of St Leonard’s Church, Walton le Dale, to perform the

Murder of a Blackburn Babe

Sweet little June Anne Devaney was just one month short of her fourth birthday. The child had been hospitalised at Queens Park Hospital, Blackburn, due to a bout of pneumonia, but after ten days confinement was on the mend and due to head home the following morning. Heartbreakingly, she was never to return. In the

Layton’s Links to the Bloodiest Battle

The Battle of the Somme, where more than a million soldiers were killed in four months of machine gun warfare. Numerous British battalions were entering battle for the first time, and General Sir Henry Rawlinson issued an order that infantry troops were to advance at a walking pace in evenly spaced lines. Although many experienced

Return to Churchtown, Lancashire

Probably my favorite churchyard, situated around the north and south sides of St. Helen)s church, containing several sandstone headstones that have received a Grade II designation from English Heritage. They date mostly from the 18th century.There is a sundial that dates from 1757 & within the church there is the chamfered shaft of a sandstone

St Ann’s Churchyard

The Church of St Ann, Manchester, once had its own graveyard encircling the rear of the building.The site was used for interments between 1712-1854, which were stopped due to the Burial Act, putting a halt to burials being carried out in already overcrowded church yards.The burial ground was partially cleared in 1842 and the majority

Next Tour Sunday 15th May

Layton Cemetery is Blackpool’s Victorian burial ground. It was opened in 1873 and is situated on what was once known as New Rd. It contains approx 17,300 graves. Blackpool trams used to terminate at the main gate & the terminus became affectionately known as ‘The Dead Stop.’ It is divided into NC/C of E/Catholic sections

Easter Saturday Tour @Layton Cemetery, Talbot Rd Blackpool

An Ominous Oracle

Join me for a trip down memory lane, to the bygone days of early summer, 1984. . . York Minster’s south roof was set ablaze by lightning, the miners were on strike and the largest onshore earthquake recorded in the UK hit the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales. But for those of us about to sit

Seaside Suicide

As dawn broke on the bitterly cold morning of Tuesday 16th December, 1930, two drowned bodies were discovered washed up on the beach, at South Shore, Blackpool, Lancashire. The couple were later to be identified as James Smith (aged 68) and Lily Lavinia Francis Ferris (52 years old.) James Smith was known locally as a