WHEN we published this picture of a tranquil looking garden in Deane Road, not far from Bolton town centre, it prompted many of you to get in touch.

Several recognised the old Christ Church gardens.

Robert Kelly, aged 82, says his father, also called Robert, used to live in Ebenezer Street “which would be where the photographer was standing to take the photograph”. The church was originally Ebenezer Chapel and was renamed Christ Church on Sunday May 2, 1841.

The final service at Christ Church in Deane Road was on Sunday July 31, 1933, explains Robert.

Christ Church was demolished in May 1936.

“There was also a Christ Church School and this was closed on August 26, 1938 and the pupils split between Emmanuel School, Pikes Lane and Holy Trinity,” he adds.

Parishes were amalgamated and St Paul’s, at the junction of Moor Lane and Garside Street and Emmanuel Church (just off Cannon Street) became one.

Bill Sheppard tells us he has a marriage certificate for his great grandparents and the top line reads “1858 Christ Church in the parish of Christ Church, Bolton.

“Rita Greenwood, of Bolton Family History Society, and who used to work for the Bolton Council Cemeteries Dept, told me that Christ Church was at the bottom of Deane Road on land which is now used for the University of Bolton, and that there was a cemetery with it,” he says.