The oldest memorial tablet in the church is sited at the top right of the centre window on the north wall, to Sarah Ann Clarke, who started the fund to build the church. She died in 1857 aged 55, just four short years after the church was consecrated. The memorial was presented by a sorrowing relative - believed to be her sister.
| At the east end of the south wall is a plaque to Canon Oswald Sargeant MA. He entered into a contract with a Hugh Gates of Liverpool to build the church for £650. There were extras by way of spire, organ room, west window, font and the architect's fee of £40, which brought the total cost up to £1,024 when the church was consecrated in 1853. He died four months later. |
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Nearby on the
south wall is a memorial to the first incumbent, Rev
Wilson Rigg. He came from Lancaster to
take up his post and his coach was overturned
while crossing the sands; he lost all his
possessions and was lucky to get ashore alive.
His first annual stipend was a mere £158! He
was 69 when he took charge in 1853, and died four
years later, two months after Sarah Ann Clarke.
The three most important people connected with the beginning of St Paul's had died within four years. |
In the recess further along is a memorial to Evan Arthur Leigh. This is of historical interest as he was on board the S. S. Lusitania which sank on 7th May 1915, being the first ship to be sunk by torpedo from a German submarine in the 1914-18 War. Nearby is the brass plate in memory of Henry Mossop, who served as Verger for 52 years!
Other memorials on the north wall are to George Podmore, the founder of the Charney Hall School (a preparatory school for boys which closed in 1972), to his wife Matilda, and his two sons, Major H Podmore, killed accidentally in 1917, and George Podmore who died at the age of 11 years. There are memorials to old boys of the school killed in the South African War and in World War II, 1939-45.
