St. George's Presbyterian Church

A Memory of Little Sutton.

St. George's Presbyterian Church stands in the forefront of this photograph between what was the Co-operative shop and Tommy Jones the fishmongers shop. How long the Presbyterian Church has stood on this site I don't know but the Church itself was established in Little Sutton in 1838.

Legend has it that that two travellers passing through Little Sutton were stoned by the local youths and upon finding out that there was neither Church nor Chapel in the village paid for it to be built! How true this is I do not know. The Church Hall which was sited next to the old Black Lion pub was demolished in the late 1950s early 1960s and this building was, I suspect, old enough to be the original Chapel/Church which was the subject of the story. I would also add, although this is immaterial, that I was born in Black Lion Lane, and that my ancestors had lived in Little Sutton since at least 1750.

However, I attended at St. George's Sunday School from a very early age and was given the mandatory stamp to stick in a book every week. I have many happy memories of the building itself from putting on nativity plays and running around the Church and pulpit, to taking golden rod and fruit to decorate the Church for the harvest festival.

Jean Munro was my first Sunday School teacher and I recall being taken with another group of children to visit Chester Cathedral by Margaret Lockett - she was the daughter of the lady who played the organ Marjorie Lockett and they lived next door to Bennions in Smithy Lane.

Mr. Mitchelmore was the Sunday School Superintendent and his granddaughter Ruth Wynn used to come from London to stay with him in the summer. He used to organise the Sunday School Party and the Sunday School trip to the seaside each year.

I was Christened, Confirmed and in 1972 married at the Pres. At the time there was no resident minister and Elsie Jones (one of the Church Elders) went to a great deal of trouble to arrange for the Rev. Campbell an Interim Moderator to take the ceremony.

I have sad memories too - both of my parents and my neice had their funeral ceremonies there - but the Presbyterian Church was an integral part of my life.

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Added 20 February 2007

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Lovely to read your comments. My ancestors also are old Little Suttonites and my mother used to tell me about when the first car went through Little Sutton and they all watched it. Just prior to her death Marjorie Locket (nee Bennions) mentioned she had found some old photographs in the loft of what she said were of the 'Higgins Girls' and was going to let me have them but unfortunately she died before managing to show them to me.

By uysmith on Thu Nov 5th 2015, at 9:10 pm

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Hi uysmith thank you for your kind comments. It's funny what you remember that has been passed down to you via your parents - mum used to tell me how her mother remembered when Cartwright's first came to live in Little Sutton and they arrived pushing a wooden cart with all their belongings on it. I remember going to tea at Lockett's and Marjorie making chocolate crackolettes - we all thought they were brilliant in those days - we children were much more easily pleased than children nowadays. My mother's maiden name was Baugh - there were four daughters and one son. I say this because if we are going back in time these are the names we have often heard - I remember going to put flowers on my mum's grave one day and an extremely elderly lady knew whose grave it was, despite mum's married name, and once she had ascertained who I was because she knew or had known my mum and her sisters she was really nice with me. Mum always said there had been Baugh's in Sutton since 1500 but I can only go back to about 1700 because of breaks in the Parish Records due to fires and the like.

By Kathleen Green on Fri Nov 6th 2015, at 3:55 pm

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