I must sound like a broken record, but I truly believe that every church has a fascinating history, or a weird little artefact hidden inside, and St Mary’s at Barton is no different.
Treasures of St Mary’s Church, Barton
Hunting for Mary Wollstonecraft’s Grave
Today the Wollstonecraft/Godwin grave survives as an unassuming block of stone beside far grander memorials...
The Hardy Tree
The Hardy Tree is a centuries-old ash tree surrounded by a radiating circle of densely-packed headstones. But why was it created?
The Hangman’s Locket
As much as the Victorians revelled in beauty and sentimentality, they really were a bunch of morbid sods at heart.
The Ghost Clown of Flaybrick Cemetery
‘There’s a clown in my graveyard, what am-ah-gonna-do?’ the people of Birkenhead once yelled in the early 1990s. Or at least they would have done if they were particularly big UB40 fans.
Jacques Cazotte and the Dinner Party of Terror
In 1788, one year before the Reign of Terror began, a writer and would-be mystic was at a dinner party. Jacques Cazotte was a man of standing and was dining with the great and good aristocrats of France, poised to spoil everyone’s appetites.
The Ghost Dog of Tingewick
Spectral spaniel or fake Fido? You decide...
Bent Spoons and Sensotrons: Uri Geller’s Strike!
Uri Geller's Strike! is quite possibly one of the strangest games ever to hit toyshop shelves.
London’s Secret Victorian Pet Cemetery
Hyde Park's hidden pet cemetery's once described as 'the most horrible spectacle in Britain.'
The Car Park Grave of Mary Ellis
Beneath the tarmac of Loews Theater car park in New Brunswick lie the remains of Mary Ellis. For the last 193 years, she has occupied a prime parking spot; a strange conclusion to a romantic and tragic life.
Burials & Beyond 