Manchester Ancestry

20 October 2016:

All Saints at Newton Heath and the Manchester Cathedral have a long ecclesiastical connection in addition to the physical connection of being joined by a Roman road. They are linked in a reference in the Doomsday Book (1085 AD).

We travelled to Newton Heath by light rail from Piccadilly; very straightforward! Newton Heath's golden era has long gone; like Manchester's era, it was the second half of the 19th century. The large railway workshops are now a maintenance depot, Manchester United has long since moved to Old Trafford, and the once dominant cotton, silk, linen and heavy engineering industries have moved to other countries.The High Street has a couple of barbers, beauty salons, fast food and generic 'dollar shops' run by immigrants. When we arrived at All Saints church the children from the adjacent All Saints school were in the play ground and the Thursday flower arranger followed us into the church yard. We were made to feel most welcome as the church was unlocked and we were ushered in for an impromptu tour with tea and coffee at the conclusion.

As we started looking though the historical collection the minister who was equally obliging, arrived. He presented us with 2 volumes of the baptisms and burials for the 1700s and 1800s, plus a published church history. (I did make a donation to their restoration fund.)

 

We headed back into the city by light rail. The Cathedral has a much smaller congregation area compared to All Saints, and is partially closed for the installation of a new pipe organ.

A very helpful volunteer soon had us in tow, opening doors to show us the closed sections.

The bottom line: Rebecca Moors was buried at All Saints as I had previously understood to be the case. The close and often redefined relationship between Manchester Cathedral and All Saints makes it easy to be mislead in interpreting their historical records, but I believe it has now been clarified. Joseph and Rebecca were married in Manchester Cathedral, only a 3.5 or 4 mile walk down the Roman Road from Failsworth/Newton Heath and Joseph was also buried there in an unmarked grave; there are no headstones at the Cathedral and the area has been overbuilt and "over buried" many times over the millennium.

The burial area at All Saints was expanded with the purchase of additional land in the early 1800s, to cater for the increased number of pauper burials. This is where Rebecca was lain to rest. A selection of headstones have been laid at the front of the church; the church burial area has been overbuilt and "over buried" many times over the past 200 years.