The oldest structure in one Merseyside town is home to the remains of a man who helped put the town on the map.
Windleshaw Chantry, on Abbey Road, St Helens was built almost 800 years ago - with construction finished in 1435. Built by Sir Thomas Gerard of Bryn, some historians believe this was to celebrate his surviving of the Battle of Agincourt.
Eventually the building would begin to decay, and was used as a cemetery from around the 18th century.
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Jean Baptiste Francis Graux de la Bruyère was buried in the Chantry graveyard in 1787. He is widely credited with bringing glassmaking to St Helens, and was the first ever manager of Ravenhead works.
In 2017, hundreds of lost graves were discovered on the chantry grounds, which had been hidden for decades. Volunteer Ned Forsyth, 80, told the ECHO that the area is "steeped in history" and that if they were able to get right down to everything in the grounds you'd get "the complete history of St Helens."
He said: "We've found about another 50 graves and a lot of them are the original stones that were buried underneath the new stones. So it gives you more of that family history.
"James Unsworth, he played the organ at Lowe House for 15 years, then he played the organ at Holy Cross for 60 years. That is a claim to fame, 75 years playing the organ. But his real claim to fame was that he actually taught Sir Thomas Beecham how to play the piano.
"We've just repaired one and his name was Ralph Thicknesse and he came from Stafford to live in Wigan. He was a doctor and his son built the very first bank in Wigan, it’s now where the Westminster Bank is in Wigan.
"There’s a lady called Mary Woods, she was murdered by a chap called James Clitheroe. She was a school teacher and a part time beer seller. He was one of the very last people to be hung at Walton in public. In those days it could be 20,000 people standing waiting for this man to be hung.
"It’s steeped in history. I think if you could get right down to everything you’d get the complete history of St Helens."
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