Mellor

I left Glaramara House at 9.00 for the return journey to London. It had been raining since yesterday afternoon, and the receptionist said that the road to Keswick already had flood warnings so she advised going over the Honister Pass and taking the road to Keswick from Buttermere.
It was pouring with rain with roads as streams and waterfalls cascading down the sides of the Pass where I encountered no other traffic. It was reported later that the Pass had a foot of rain in a 24-hour period.
Having waited for a herd of sheep to pass, the third time in my stay in the area, I reached Buttermere and took the road to Keswick, which also went high but not as high as Honister, and then down a winding road before eventually meeting the A66 west of Keswick at 9.45.
After a toilet stop at the last services on the A66 before the junction with the M6, conditions worsened with rain, wind and poor visibility as the M6 reached Shap at 1,000 feet. The rain had stopped by the time I reached Preston.
After driving along the M61, another service stop for a call to Mellor, to say that I was on my way, joining the M60, making an unnecessary detour through Stockport, asking for directions in Marple, I eventually reached Mellor Parish Centre at 13.30 to meet the archivist.
The archivist showed me the records of burials plus a map of the graveyard with the graves numbered to correspond to the written record. The records had also been put on a CD which I purchased as well as making a donation to the church.
We walked to the church which was on the top of a hill. Archaeologists had excavated part of the site to discover a pre-Roman settlement and medieval hall.
The burial records indicated that there were about four graves with Ernills, my maternal great great grandfather's surname, and about a dozen with Bradburys, my maternal great great grandmother's maiden name. Having kicked away the moss, we found the grave of Thomas Ernill and Sarah Bradbury which also contains some other relatives. There was a stone flower holder with the name Ernill on its side.
The church where many Ernills were baptised and married was very interesting with a pre-Norman font, a medieval pulpit, and a modern organ to accompany the choir which had sung at Westminster Abbey during the Abbey choir's summer holiday.Read more