Four Lane Ends Congregational Church

Between Tottington and Affteside is Four Lane ends. It sits at the junction of Bradshaw road and Harwood road. Tiny community, just a handful of cottages. I recall forty something years ago driving a Landrover with my Grandma Jane up to these cottages on a Christmas morning, in the snow, to take a Christmas dinner to the old people - Meals on Wheels. Now with a big grip on my family history this church stirs some distant memories. Some of the engraved names are distant relatives or relatives of relatives. The two stone inscriptions are important too. They represent that even a tiny community such as this sent their menfolk to war.

There are two inscriptions to the right of the left window below:

"IN HONOUR OF ALL

WHO SERVED IN THE WORLD WAR

1939- 1945"

"IN HONOUR OF THE LADS

WHO SERVED IN THE GREAT WAR

1914 -1918"

I am not sure that these inscriptions are in the IWM Database.

It is clear that the names on the walls are families that used the church, how or why they had their names engraved is not clear

 I did not have time to do a proper photo study as I was in the middle of "The Peelers" challenge walk, so I took the chance to take what I could and move on!
The names are transcribed below. - Hopefully your internet search will have found them!

Derek James Brown
Sarah Lucy Brown and James Brown
James Barlow Brown
Sarah Lucy Brown

Annie and Squire Shaw
Samuel Horrocks Howard
-
Olive and William Turner
Mollie Turner
Stanley Eastwood
-
Ephraim and Emily Turner

James and Alice Ann Pilling
Alice Ann and Gertrude

Clarence and Mildred Haydock

Jack and Margaret Hopkinson

Betty Grimshaw, Ellen Grimshaw

Peter and Annie Elizabeth Allanson

Bert and Sarah A. Allanson

Brian Nuttal, Betty Wall

John and Alice Hopkinson

George and Amy Turner

Samuel Bentley

Joseph Entwhistle

Joseph and Alice Anson

Albert Forrest, James Forrest, Tom Forrest, John Forrest, Theresa Forrest, Elizabeth M. Forrest, Margaret S. and Thomas A. Wolfenden

William Henry and Vera Matthews

Peter and Sally Hamer

James and Eleanor Waring

William and Olive Turner

Stanley and Molly Eastwood, Nee Turner and Carole

Peter and Betsey Bently

Roger and Alice Howard

Squire and Annie Shaw

J and A Smith

James, Rachel & Annie Forrest George Forrest

George and May Roberts

Eli and Mary Ann Warburton

Walter Ainsworth, Edith Ainsworth

Joseph and Hannah Warburton

Robert and Olive Platt

Robert and Mary Ann Scowcroft

Gordon and Marion Turner

Edna Forrest

Edward Sharples, Ena Mercer, Alice Anderton, Edith Sharples, Elizabeth Fitton, Thomas and Maarion Walker, William Henry and Hannah Syddall

Richard and Alice Jane Nuttall

Bert and Hannah Evans

Peter and Hannah Roscow

Thomas and  Alice Turner

Ann and Betty Turner

Thomas and Betty Bentley

Thomas and Anne Nuttall

James Nuttall

James Pilling and Alice Ann Pilling

Thomas a Sarah Ellen Turner son Edward

Myles and Margaret Nuttall

Joseph and Rachel Nuttall

Fred L Adcock - A Lay Preacher

Thomas and Elsie Roberts

Bert and Ethel Worby

Aaron Smith, James Smith

William Nuttall

John and Alice Nuttall

Edwin and Elsie Watters

There appears to be Allanson round the corner, but I can't resolve it

The inscription reads 

FOUR LANE ENDS 

CONGREGATIONAL

BUILT 1832

ENLARGED 1930

There is also a stone that says "In Memorium"  This could mean that these are the parishioners that are remembered that have been engraved on the stones. More research!

Not too happy with this - poor photos

Tottington Again-Whitehead gardens.

Whitehead Gardens,
the plaque is to the left
The road is on the right and
curls round to the left as
it heads to Brookhouse and
then Greenmount

The Plaque

The gardens in Tottington that lie beneath the church of St Ann on the Greenmount road used to be houses. On Christmas Eve 1944 a flying bomb landed and exploded there, killing 7 people. My Grandmother was always distressed when visiting. Although I used to walk through the park with my mother, I never recall my grandmother (Jane Dunn) ever walking through the park. I believe that the two GreenHalgh's were distant relatives. My grandmother served in the civil defence during wartime. Here is a couple of pix of Whitehead Gardens. Incidentally Mrs Whitehead lived not 200 yards from where the bomb fell. I recall going to several of her RNLI lifeboat fundraising do's that she had in her gardens in the 1950's She was considered "high society" by my parents. I was frightened by my first Morris Dancers in those days. The picture is taken from just to the left of the plaque and looks towards the church. The inscription on the memorial says...

THE WHITEHEAD GARDEN

THIS GARDEN WAS GIVEN BY

MR & MRS SD. WHITEHEAD

OF STORMER HILL,

TO THE PEOPLE OF TOTTINGTON

TO BE ENJOYED BY THEM FOR ALL TIME

IN MEMORY OF THOSE NAMED BELOW

WHO WERE KILLED HERE BY A FLYING BOMB ON

24TH DECEMBER 1944.

NICHOLAS CONWAY

MARY ANN CONWAY

ELIZABETH DRAPER

JAMES DYSON

TERESA DYSON

ANN GREENHALGH

BERTHA GREENHALGH

According to the UK Memorials people this plaque was not the original. This is the record on their site. 

 "DATE UNKNOWN: ORIGINAL DEDICATORY BRONZE PLAQUE WAS STOLEN. IT WAS LATER FOUND IN A SCRAP MERCHANT'S YARD BUT IT WAS DAMAGED BEYONE REPAIR SO A NEW STONE TABLET WAS PLACED IN THE GARDEN INSTEAD."

Tottington village is to the right. The Restaurant on the corner was known as the "Printers Arms". I spent many happy years playing in these gardens. I really did not understand why my mother and Grandmother were reasonably OK about it. It does not seem a sad place - more a timeless place.

Found some more information the BBC website is here but I have Copied and Pasted too.

Doodlebug bomb attack remembered

Six people died in the V1 rocket attack 60 years ago

The survivors of a flying bomb attack on a village during World War Two were due to take part in a service on Christmas Eve to remember those killed.

Six people died when the V1 rocket - also known as a doodlebug - landed on Chapel Street, in Tottington, near Bury, Greater Manchester, 60 years ago.

The German rocket destroyed a row of cottages and was one of 15 bombs to fall near Manchester on that day.

The service will be held at memorial gardens built where the bomb landed.

30ft deep crater

Colin MacDonald, who was aged 14 at the time, said he felt lucky to be alive.

He said: "I just woke up with a tremendous bang and the ceiling coming in on top of the bed. There was a mad scramble to get out.

"We didn't know what happened. We thought it might be a gas explosion. None of us thought it would be a bomb or a flying bomb.

"Then we got out and all the backs of the houses were down and there was a crater, 30ft deep, and all the windows were out. There was glass from kerb to kerb."

The attack was the second worst of the day. The worst was in Abbey Hills Road, in Oldham, where a V1 landed on a row of cottages, killing 27 people and seriously injuring 49.

In total, 45 rockets were launched by the Nazis on that day, 31 of which reached the UK. 

This is the link to the Flickr site.

I did not have this supplementary information either.

Again a copy and paste from DB's flickr page

V1 flying bomb site, Chapel Street, Tottington near Bury.

View On Black

At just before 6 o'clock on the morning of Christmas Eve 1944, 6 people in the village of Tottington were killed when a V1 flying bomb dived into a row of terraced houses. A further 9 people were injured, one of whom died later of injuries.

This photo was taken across the road from the bomb site, upon which there is now this memorial plaque and garden.

British civilians in the Summer of 1944 probably thought that following the Normandy invasion, the horrors of war on the home front (apart from the fear of a telegram) were nearly over. But 3 years after the Blitz, cruise missiles and rockets appeared in the skies, bringing terror without warning. V1's were pulsejet propelled missiles, usually launched from ramps in Northern France and Holland against London and the South East.

However, on Christmas Eve 1944, 45 Doodlebugs were launched from underneath adapted Heinkel He111 bombers flying over the North Sea, because the launch sites in Europe had been overrun by the Allies. The bombers released the V1s aimed at Manchester, then turned back to base. Many of the missiles landed harmlessly; the worst was at Abbey Hills Road in Oldham, where 32 people were killed.

An unintentional feature of the bomb was that as the timer counted down to the designated moment, the engine would cut and the thing would dive to the ground. People learned to listen to the engine, and knew that when it cut they had just a few seconds to take cover. The Nazis overcame this flaw so that later models went into a powered dive giving no warning at all. But then shortly after that, V2 rockets came tearing out of the stratosphere at 4 times the speed of sound... As newly arriving American servicemen were reminded, Great Britain was a war zone.

People killed;

Mr Nicholas Conway (50) and Mrs Mary Ann Conway (48). They were at number 19 Chapel Street.

Miss Annie Greenhalgh (75 ). 21 Chapel Street.

Elizabeth Hodgkinson Draper, (about 55). 31 Chapel Street.

Mr James Dyson (52) and Mrs Teresa Dyson, visiting from Bulwell, Nottingham, at 33 Chapel Street.

People injured;

Miss Mary Conway

Mrs Bertha Greenalgh. (died February 20th 1945)

Mr Dewhurst Greenhalgh

Mrs Midgley

Miss Ethel Riley

Mrs Hodges

Mr Herbert Young

Miss N Hamer

Miss Ellen Barnes

details from

Bolton Evening News December 27th 1944

Chapel Street Tottington

Chapel Street Tottington

I am also including the 2 photos from the Bolton Evening News.I am indebted to Lancsman who clearly has done much spadework here Here is a link back to his site.

Here is a link to the pictures of Tottington Dungeon. The dungeon is only 100 yards from the Whitehead Gardens.