John's father Henry was born in Turton, Lancashire on 7th October 1912, so that was our next stop. Turton was a textile ( flax ) town in that era and we didn't expect to find many traces of that industry left today.
After a bit of research we discovered that a house belonging to one of the millowners, named Turton Towers, still existed and open to the public so we went there.
A gardener at the towers pointed out where one of the mills had stood beside a local stream so we walked along and took a look. The foundation stones of the mill are visible when the reservoir water level is low but after this wet English summer, it was not to be. We did however find some of the original mill cottages, now nicely refurbished.
My grandparents John William Parkin and Lilly Farrell were married at Astley Bridge Baptist Church on 19th June 1909 and we discovered there was still a church on the same site. The old one had been destroyed by fire and replaced with a new structure. There was a childrens play group using the new building but one of the teachers invited us in to look at some photos of the old church. John took a few snaps of these photos.
John can remember his grandparents talking about this part of Turton.
