We have a secret graveyard in our back garden with 92 buried bodies but it's so peaceful
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A homeowner who bought a property with a graveyard in the back garden says it's one of England’s most 'peaceful places'. Bob Sutton, 59, says in the video (click to play above) that it is a ‘nice place to sit’ - as he walks around the unusual outdoor space.
Bob was not put off purchasing his 375-year-old cottage after learning there were three tombstones and 92 people buried behind the address. Instead, he and his partner, Nubia Farquharson, have spent the last 25 years proudly bringing the overgrown former Methodist cemetery "back to life".
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Bob said: "Although a lot of people say to me ‘I could not live there,' it’s one of the most peaceful places in England - it is to me, anyway. I like going to graveyards anyway, some of the graveyards I see are dilapidated, but this one, I’ve brought it back to life, and I’m absolutely proud of it.”
When Bob and Nubia snapped up the one-up-one-down Waterfall Cottage, in Roughlee, Lancs., for £47,500, they had an “inkling” a tomb might be in the garden. But it was only when Bob, who is a caretaker, cleared away mounds of thick bracken that he discovered three gravestones dating back up to 150 years.
He later learned that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, had been chased from the village by an angry mob while preaching to locals in 1748. Decades later, devotees of the protestant faith who knew of the incident and Wesley’s connection to the area built a chapel just behind Bob’s terraced property.
Dozens of children and adults from the previously poor area were then buried in marked and unmarked graves beside the since-demolished place of worship. Bob said: “I had an inkling the graves were there as I’d walked around the back of the house before I purchased it, and I could see there was some sort of monument. But it did not put me off buying the house. It’s a very small village, and I thought, ‘I’m going to go ahead with it’. And actually, I’ve loved taking care of the headstones.”
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Hide AdBob has documents that record the names of the 92 souls who are buried in the decommissioned graveyard at the back of his and two of his neighbour's property.
And one of the most prominent headstones in his garden was produced for Mary Holgate, who died in childbirth at the tender age of 29.
Bob now welcomes visitors to his garden who show an interest in the graveyard or want to research their ancestors. He said: “I feel like I’m the link between the past and present. And I have no problem at all with people coming to my garden to look around. It will be of interest to some people – and that’s no problem.”
Bob said despite living in a home surrounded by buried dead bodies, he had never seen any paranormal activity. He added: “I had a super sensitive cat for 19 years, and I’ve been here 25 years, and I’ve not seen or heard anything.”
They now have a plaque on the wall so people know there is a graveyard around the back - as it’s the village’s best kept secret.
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