A distinctive “trace” of the Pendle Forest line of Grimshaws is a large gravesite monument at St. Anne’s Church in Fence, a community located east of Pendle Hill (about 11 miles northeast of Blackburn.)
Thanks go to Gerald Brewin and his son, Derek, for accompanying the author on his initial visit to St. Anne’s church and the Grimshaw monument in May 2000. Also to Leo Wrigley of Haslingden for serving as “tour guide” on that field trip.
Pendle Forest Grimshaw Gravesite Monument
A large monument marking the gravesite of 17 Pendle Forest Grimshaw descendants is in the cemetery at St. Anne’s church (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1. The Grimshaw monument in St. Anne’s Church cemetery is shown below with the author for scale. Note the monumental inscriptions, starting with “SACRED” which can be seen quite clearly. The “Grimshaw griffin” can also be seen above the inscriptions and the wreath (see Figure 2 below.)
Grimshaw Griffin on Monument
The Grimshaw Griffin — that is, the rendition for the Pendle Forest Grimshaw line — is included on the monument above the inscriptions on one side (see Figure 2 below). The griffin is depicted in bas relief above the inscriptions on the side facing the church. The ducally crowned rendition of the griffin is also shown on the Pendle Forest descendant chart, as presented in Whitaker1.
Figure 2. Closeup view of the Grimshaw Griffin on the monument. Note that the griffin is the same as on the Pendle Forest Grimshaw descendant chart (i.e., ducally crowned.)
St. Anne’s Church
St. Anne’s Church in Fence is almost completely surrounded by the church cemetery (see Figure 3 below).
Figure 3. West side of St. Anne’s Church. The Grimshaw monument is directly around the other side of the church (to the right) in this view.
Inscriptions on Grimshaw Monument
Monumental. A close-up of the griffin is also presented at the bottom of this webpage below the first photo.
The monumental inscriptions on the monument are given below. Inscriptions are included on all four sides of the monument. Side One has the griffin above it, and Sides Two to Four continue clockwise around the monument. A total of 17 individuals are included in the inscriptions; they are numbered below in braces { }. The individuals have been identified (by the numbers in braces) in the Pendle Forest Grimshaw descendant chart; see the next section of this webpage.
All of the interred persons are descendants (and their spouses) of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Harrison) Grimshaw, starting with their children Nicholas (b. 1779), John (b. 1784) and John’s wife, Alice (Dugdale) Grimshaw.
(Side One, with Griffin above)
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW {1} OF HEIGHT, HIGHAM BOOTH WHO DIED AUGUST TWENTY-FIFTY EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY, IN THE SIXTY SECOND YEAR OF HIS AGE ALSO OF JOHN GRIMSHAW, OF {2} BANK HOUSE, HIGHAM BOOTH, WHO DIED JUNE SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED FIFTY SIX, IN THE SEVENTY SECOND YEAR OF HIS AGE ALSO OF ALICE, RELICT OF THE {3} ABOVE NAMED JOHN GRIMSHAW, WHO DIED SEPTEMBER NINETEENTH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE, IN THE SEVENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF HER AGE ALSO JAMES NORMAN GRIMSHAW {4} BORN NOVEMBER 19TH 1906, DIED JANUARY 8TH 1992 AND DOROTHY MARY GRIMSHAW {5} BORN SEPTEMBER 9TH 1906. DIED JANUARY 16TH 1945
(Side 2)
ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF JAMES GRIMSHAW, {6} OF REEDLY GROVE BORN JULY 20TH 1843 DIED DECEMBER 29TH 1911 ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF ALICE GRIMSHAW, {7} WIFE OF THE ABOVE, BORN SEPTEMBER 11TH 1847, DIED NOVEMBER 4TH 1923 ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN GRIMSHAW, {8} BORN NOVEMBER 24TH 1899 DIED JANUARY 29TH 1964 ALSO BERNARD KEIRBY GRIMSHAW {9} SON OF JAMES NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW, BORN JUNE 6TH 1909, DIED JANUARY 5TH 1967
(Side 3)
ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF ANN HARTLEY, {10} BORN SEPTEMBER 28TH 1834, DIED JANUARY 12TH 1882 ALSO NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW {11} BORN NOVEMBER 22ND 1838, DIED MAY 25TH 1906 ALSO ELIZABETH GRIMSHAW, {12} BORN MAY 7TH 1845 DIED FEBRUARY 10TH 1922 ALSO JAMES NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW, BORN SEPTEMBER 25TH 1875 {13} DIED OCTOBER 1ST 1964 ALSO GERTRUDE GRIMSHAW {14} WIFE OF THE ABOVE, BORN MARCH 5TH 1876 DIED AUGUST 31ST 1967
(Side 4)
ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS GRIMSHAW {15} SON OF THE AFORE NAMED JOHN AND ALICE GRIMSHAW, WHO DIED JUNE TENTH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-ONE AGED THIRTY-NINE YEARS. ALSO EDA, THE YOUNGEST {16} DAUGHTER OF JOHN AND MARY JANE GRIMSHAW, WHO DIED FEBRUARY TWENTY- EIGHTH, NINETEEN HUNDRED, AGED TWENTY-FOUR YEARS, AND OF NICHOLAS, ONLY {17} SON OF SAID JOHN AND MARY JANE GRIMSHAW, BORN JANUARY 24TH 1866 DIED MARCH 19TH 1910
Identification of Interred Grimshaws on Pendle Forest Descendant Chart
The full descendant chart for the Pendle Forest Grimshaw line from Whitaker1 is shown on a companion webpage. A portion of the chart (the lower right corner) is replicated from the full chart in Figure 4 below. Thirteen of the 17 individuals in the monumental inscriptions have been identified on the abbreviated chart and are indicated with circled numbers. These numbers correspond to the numbers in braces in the monumental inscriptions listed above.
Figure 4. A portion of the Pendle Forest Grimshaw descendant chart from Whitaker. The individuals in the inscriptions on the Grimshaw monument are indicated by circled numbers. These numbers correspond to the numbers in braces in the inscriptions above.
As noted, all of the interred persons are descendants (and their spouses) of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Harrison) Grimshaw. Two of the individuals, James (#13, b. 1875) and his wife, Gertrude (#14, b. 1876) are tentative but highly probable. The four individuals on the inscriptions that are not on the descendant chart (#4, #5, #8, #9) were born after the 1872 copyright date of Whitaker.
Where is Fence Located?
Fence is in the Forest of Pendle, about 3 km southeast of Pendle Hill, as shown in Figure 5. The location of St. Anne’s church is indicated by the church symbol just below the pink circle in the second map.
Figure 5. Small-scale and large-scale map showing location of Fence near Pendle Hill.
References
1Whitaker, Thomas Dunham, 1872, An History of the Original Parish of Whalley, and Honor of Clitheroe (Revised and enlarged by John G. Nichols and Ponsonby A. Lyons): London, George Routledge and Sons, 4th Edition; v. I, 362 p.; v. II, 622 p. Earlier editions were published in 1800, 1806, and 1825.
