https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/12870493.unearthing-the-history-of-windleshaw-chantry/
COUNTLESS hours of painstaking research have helped shed new light the origins of one of the town's most historic buildings.
The Windleshaw Chantry is among the oldest structures in St Helens and dates back to the 15th century.
Ted Forsyth has been working on a three-year project into its history alongside John Brereton, from Haydock and Jack Gaskenn, who passed away during the research.
Their work has involved carefully identifying the thousands of graves buried in the grounds.
During the research, the exact date of the chantry's opening has been uncovered as June 21 1415. Ted found a copy of a letter from the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield which allows mass to be celebrated at the chantry from that date.
"This is going to re-write the history of the chantry," said Ted, from Haresfinch.
"I found the copy in St Helens Central Library, it was there all this time! But this is it, it was 1415 and not 1435 as was previously thought.
"It looks like it was two buildings – a tower and a chapel. We've also done a compass reading on the Abbey and it is facing 10 degrees South-East so they must have started building at around this time of the year."
Ted believes there have been at least 8,000 burialss, which he has been able to date back to the 1600s, and he has found records of around 4,000 so far.
"The earliest burial I have found is of Elizabeth Horton in 1677 whose funeral was at St Mary's, Prescot.
"We've done deep research for the last six months but we've been working for the last three years on the inscriptions.
"Archaeologists are looking at coming down to shed more light on the building."
The discovery means that this summer marks the 600th anniversary of the chantry opening. It is hoped a celebration can be held there to mark the milestone.
Mass was held in the chantry grounds in 2008 for the first time since its closure and again at Easter in 2009, 2010 and 2011.