Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, &c./Part 1/Fairfax in Ashton Church

GENERAL FAIRFAX BURIED IN ASHTON CHURCH.

In one of his MS. vols. in Chetham's Library, Thomas Barrett, the Manchester antiquary, says:—"They have long had a tradition at Ashton-under-Lyne, that in the chancel of the church, the famous General Fairfax lies buried. How this came about I am at a loss to account for, unless done through privacy, to preserve his corpse from the ill-usage of his enemies, and that it was thus secreted through the means of Colonel Dukinfield, who served in the same cause with Fairfax in the Parliamentary army. Dukinfield Hall lies very near Ashton."