It's funny, isn't it, how easily you can overlook things? This stone has obviously been here for years, and I must have walked near to it several times without noticing it. It's on the canal bank in the grounds of Saltaire's URC church. Even having noticed it, I am unsure exactly what it is. Clearly the letters L&LCCo stand for the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Company. This was the company formed in 1768 to construct the canal, to enable the transport of raw materials (including limestone from Skipton) to the developing wool and industrial centres of Bradford and Leeds, as well as the exporting of finished products to the Americas, via the port of Liverpool. The company must have ceased when the canals were nationalised in 1948. The stone looks like a gravestone for the defunct company! But I'm sure it had some proper purpose. I have no idea what the "B" means.
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Sunday 21 March 2010
Dead & gone
It's funny, isn't it, how easily you can overlook things? This stone has obviously been here for years, and I must have walked near to it several times without noticing it. It's on the canal bank in the grounds of Saltaire's URC church. Even having noticed it, I am unsure exactly what it is. Clearly the letters L&LCCo stand for the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Company. This was the company formed in 1768 to construct the canal, to enable the transport of raw materials (including limestone from Skipton) to the developing wool and industrial centres of Bradford and Leeds, as well as the exporting of finished products to the Americas, via the port of Liverpool. The company must have ceased when the canals were nationalised in 1948. The stone looks like a gravestone for the defunct company! But I'm sure it had some proper purpose. I have no idea what the "B" means.
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I tried Googling Leeds & Liverpool Canal Co gravestone, and one of the pages found was your blog!! LOL
ReplyDeleteNo wiser though. Sorry.
Are there other stones like this, at intervals? 'B' might be an indication of measurement perhaps?
ReplyDeleteIt's got a perfectly beautiful color to it, whatever it may be.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting puzzle. It isn't a distance marker is it? Does it have anything on the other side?
ReplyDeleteI never thought to look on the other side, Diane... that was dumb, wasn't it? Next time I'm down that way I shall have a look. I think it must either be some kind of distance marker or even perhaps a mason's mark. Apparently the canal builders did put their initials on the stonework in some places.
ReplyDeleteIt is most probably a boundary marker, to indicate where the canal company's land ended and the graveyard started. In which case the "B" will stand for "boundary"!
ReplyDeleteMartin (Ashton under Lyne Daily Photo)
Martin - that sounds reasonable, given that it is quite close to the canal, at the edge of the mown grass.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and quite bright.
ReplyDeleteSydney - City and Suburbs
Nice and interesting !!
ReplyDeleteI tried Googling L & LC milestones too. It showed a good number of images, but none looked like this. They were all clearly marked with recognisable distances.
ReplyDeleteNice aged patina on this marker. It's quite bright, maybe it was hiding under a bush or something before and that's why you didn't see it! ~Lili
ReplyDeleteWell, fancy that - I've just been searching the internet for something completely different, and I've found a picture of this marker, entitled Boundary Stone - so it looks as though Martin is right. (I think he knows something about canals.)
ReplyDelete