WHEN the beer-swilling teenage mother of 200 died at the start of the century, her family thought it only right to celebrate her life.

So they buried 15-year-old Polly in the grounds of their pub.

And there, for the past 100 years, she has lain in peace . . . in a quiet corner of the car park of the Cock Hotel, Worsley.

Visitors have even been known to stop to say a prayer, talk to Polly or put down some flowers.

And the tributes are well deserved, because Polly was the celebrity PIG of her age.

She was famous throughout Worsley and the surrounding area for the huge number of piglets she produced.

She was also well-known for her love for jugs of ale.

When she died in 1904 her owners erected the headstone to commemorate her life and maternal achievements.

It reads: "In memory of Polly, mother of 200 pigs -- died December 23rd, 1904, aged 15 years."

For almost 100 years, the stone has remained in a quiet corner of the pub's car park, providing an unusual talking point for visitors.

Ann Monaghan, outreach worker at Salford Museum Service, said: "Polly is believed to have been something of a tourist attraction. The tradition was that visiting parties to the pub had to buy her a jug of ale."

Mrs Monaghan said the pub may still have been called by its original name Meanleys at the time of Polly's death, and it would have been a small farm with an inn, which produced its own ale.

She said Polly's young would have been sold to markets around the region.

Staff at the hotel, which was demolished and rebuilt in the 1930s, say the headstone is a local landmark.

Manager of the Cock Hotel, Joe Goncalves, said: "Once in a while, I will come out to clean the car park in the morning, and there will be flowers on the grave, or someone standing talking to it. It's a bit odd, but the grave is well known, and it's definitely a talking point for customers. There are many different stories around it. One is that the owners of the pig were regulars in the pub and decided to bury her here, but most believe the pig lived here and was owned by the hotel."

In a book produced by Worsley Council and historian Frank Mullineux in 1973, a picture of Polly features a caption supporting the latter story. Local history librarian Tim Ashworth, of Salford Local History Library, said: "We know that Polly was a white pig and from pictures, she looks to have been quite a rough specimen.

"We believe she actually belonged to the Cock Hotel itself."