An Industrial and Pottery walk round Buckley - Number 32"

Saint John's United Reformed Church, Buckley

1967

see entry 1.239

Examples of grave stones here show the large monument to a Buckley Worthy and the home-made, rather crude head-stones in remembrance of more ordinary folk.

AN INDUSTRIAL AND POTTERY WALK ROUND BUCKLEY - NUMBER 32

Finally in the grave yard of the Saint John's United Refromed Church in Hawkesbury Road, we see the memorial set up by Jonathan Catherall II in his seventieth year, where he describes himself as a nonconformist. Alongside are the graves of himself, his family and nearby those of Buckley potters.

In his grave plot is a unique tombstone which lists the names of his family and includes accounts of incidents which took place at that time. Localy it is known as "the bad egg monument". After reading the inscription, the visitor will know why!

The original chapel built here by Catherall in 1815 was demolished over a hundred years ago, except for the part of the building which was used as the organ loft in the next church, which itself was replaced in 2002. Several burnt clay memorial stones have been rescued and are places around the walls of the exterior. They were made by local workmen who rolled out the clay slabs and then with the aid of a pointed instrument wrote in amateurish free-hand an inscription on the surface before firing the clay.

Buckley people called this edifice "Keetra's Chappa", being the local dialect for "Catherall's Chapel".

Author: Bentley, James

An Industrial and Pottery walk round Buckley - Number 32"

Saint John's United Reformed Church, Buckley

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