I am a great fan of Alan Jennings’s blog which chronicles his almost daily activity helping maintain the church of St Mary.
Yesterday he gave me permission to repost one of his blog posts.
“This morning I thought that I would not gather any information for my blogs today, because the weather was so poor, but I then thought, how can I disappoint my loyal readers, so I put on my coat and went to the churchyard, it poured down and I got soaked, there was nobody else there and I had the churchyard to myself.
The grave I had decided to investigate was that of the Slagg family, not so much because of those who lie under this Tombstone but more because of the Architect who designed it.
The Venetian Gothic style of the Slagg family chest tomb with its polished pink granite colonettes dates from the early work of the eminent architect, indeed the most successful Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse RA, born 19th July 1830 and died 22nd August 1905, he was particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival and is best known for his design of Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in London, he also designed the Assize courts at Strangeways which were bombed during the Second World War and had to be demolished but we must not stray too far from whose tomb this is, John Slagg who died on February 25th, 1875, was a neighbor of Waterhouse when he lived at Barcombe Cottage Fallowfield and commissioned this Monument in 1863.
John was a businessman and Justice of the Peace at Manchester and his friend Anti-corn law campaigner Richard Cobden was his sons Godfather. John Slagg Junior followed his father into business,
He became President of the Manchester chamber of commerce. in 1885 he was appointed as a director of the Suez canal company, he made his home at Hopefield Pendleton, he was elected M.P. for Manchester in 1880, lost his seat in 1885 and then won a by-election in Burnley, he was a Liberal Politician, he was only 47 when he died at his Mayfair London home in 1889.
Now those of you who are admirers of Alfred Waterhouse do not have to travel to Manchester to see his work, you only have to visit our very own churchyard.
If you look at the photo of the tomb that I have posted from Ian Pringle's book St Mary Prestwich... A Description of the Churchyard, you will see that it was once surrounded by iron railings like many other of the graves, these were removed during the Second World War".
Alan Jennings ©2019
Location; Prestwich
Pictures; from the collection of Alan Jennings, and Pringle, Ian, St Mary Prestwich... A Description of the Churchyard
“This morning I thought that I would not gather any information for my blogs today, because the weather was so poor, but I then thought, how can I disappoint my loyal readers, so I put on my coat and went to the churchyard, it poured down and I got soaked, there was nobody else there and I had the churchyard to myself.
The grave I had decided to investigate was that of the Slagg family, not so much because of those who lie under this Tombstone but more because of the Architect who designed it.
John was a businessman and Justice of the Peace at Manchester and his friend Anti-corn law campaigner Richard Cobden was his sons Godfather. John Slagg Junior followed his father into business,
He became President of the Manchester chamber of commerce. in 1885 he was appointed as a director of the Suez canal company, he made his home at Hopefield Pendleton, he was elected M.P. for Manchester in 1880, lost his seat in 1885 and then won a by-election in Burnley, he was a Liberal Politician, he was only 47 when he died at his Mayfair London home in 1889.
If you look at the photo of the tomb that I have posted from Ian Pringle's book St Mary Prestwich... A Description of the Churchyard, you will see that it was once surrounded by iron railings like many other of the graves, these were removed during the Second World War".
Alan Jennings ©2019
Location; Prestwich
Pictures; from the collection of Alan Jennings, and Pringle, Ian, St Mary Prestwich... A Description of the Churchyard
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