Walking between the stones (a taster tour)

youtube.com/watch A taster walk around the cemetery . . . We hope you enjoy it 🪦 Learn something of the stories beneath the stones, walk with Juliette Gregson, Heritage Photographer, and I as we share a little of its history . . .

Last Goodbye

Allow me, if you will, to share with you a strange yet poignant encounter I experienced around five years ago which deeply touched me . . . Ruminating on my tasks for the day I somewhat wistfully peered out of the bus window, observing pedestrians encumbered with bulging shopping bags, hurriedly heading home to peel

Who is Peg of the Well?

Peg O’Nell Terrifying tales of malevolent water spirits lurking beneath the surface of ponds, lakes and rivers, patiently laying in wait for a likely victim are familiar throughout the Land. Jinny Greenteeth is known the length and breadth of Lancashire as the water witch just waiting to devour the soul of any defiant child who

The Retributory Haunting of Bannister Doll

Ladywell Street in Preston is renowned for a very grisly haunting indeed. The spectral figure has been known to shape-shift as her residual energy has the ability to take on various forms. Sometimes her existence is only marked by eerie tripping footsteps or the sight of sinister peg-a-lanterns, others have witnessed a small child or

The Boggart beneath the Buttery Stone

Intersecting the Roman road from Ribchester to Lancaster, just outside Longridge in the village of Grimsargh you will find the aptly named Written Stone Lane. Perhaps unsurprisingly at the top of said lane, beside Written Stone farm (formerly Cottam House) you will find the ‘Written Stone’, a sandstone slab of considerable length bearing the legend

The Fylde Hag who roamed as a Hare

The parish church of St Anne, Woodplumpton, has been in existence since since 1340, being rebuilt in both 1639 & 1900. It’s a very curious looking place and appears rather cosmopolitan in style. During restoration original stonework dating back to the 12th century was discovered. The main entrance into the churchyard is through the Lychgate

The Blackpool Brew that Caught a Killer

The general consensus on a young James Hanratty was that he wasn’t ‘quite right’ – he displayed evidence of impaired intellect and delayed development (his personality having been described as anti social, disinhibited and egotistical.) By the time he was ready to move up to St James’Catholic High School In Barnet, North London, his teachers

Love Never Dies

Edward Rifle Mann & Helen Wolstenholme Layton Cemetery is located in the seaside town of Blackpool, within the county of Lancashire. A holiday destination situated on the NorthWest Coast of England. Opened in 1873 when the council decided its parish churchyard was replete with burying. This sprawling Victorian necropolis contains many notable graves. If you

Must be Something in the Water

Mermaid tales in folklore run as deep as the waters they swim in, they have been both feared and revered, celebrated and abominated. From the stories of my youth where benevolent beauties bestowed magical gifts upon menfolk, (often falling in love with them, thus transforming themselves into radiant women) to the older, darker fables of

Military Murder at Princess Parade

When vacationing families return to their rooms and day trippers journey home, the bright lights of Blackpool are often witness to more sinister sights. On such an evening, during wartime in 1944 the body of a local girl was discovered in an air raid shelter by North Promenade. Perhaps surprisingly, she had not fallen victim