Man has 200 year old grave in back garden but says it's not creepy at all

Bob Sutton says his cottage features a historic grave stone in his garden. The headstone marks the final resting place of 29 year old Mary Holgate, who died in childbirth

A couple whose cottage has a blue plaque says it has a "fascinating" history which includes a 200-year-old grave in their back garden.

Bob Sutton and his partner Nubia, from Roughlee, purchased their 'two up-two down' cottage 25 years ago. The property boasts years of history and is linked back to a violent mob. The pair brought Waterfall Cottage for £47,500 back in 1999 and believe that a woman is burried in their back garden, alongside her child.

The property, which features a waterfall outside the front, is made with a 370-year-old stonework. And the blue plaque which is placed on the structure reveals why the events of August 25 in 1748 has made the building so special. Bob shared that he has even had Methodists meet in the garden to sing hymns.

The plaque, installed by Burnley and Pendle Methodist Circuit to mark the Methodist Heritage Trail, reads: "Whilst preaching near here in Roughlee, John Wesley was chased by a hostile mob, taking refuge in Barrowford. A Methodist chapel was built behind these cottages in 1823, the graveyard of which can still be seen."

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, is said to have preached 40,000 sermons and travelled 250,000 miles including his visit to Roughlee. As Wesley wrote in his journal of that day in 1748: "I had about half finished my discourse, when the mob came pouring down the hill like a torrent."

Later in the day, when asked by the leaders of the mob to promise never to preach at Roughlee again, Wesley answered: "I would sooner cut off my own hand than make any such promise." The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel itself was demolished in 1976 but the bodies of 92 people remain buried under the back gardens of the six former weavers' cottages. But for the blue plaque, their existence would be unknown, but in Bob's garden two ornate headstones - one surrounded by decorative iron railings - remain, reports Lanchashire Live.

One of the marked graves holds the remains of 29-year-old Mary Holgate, the wife of Henry, who died on February 16 in 1874. Mary died in childbirth and although the headstone makes no reference to her child Bob discovered what happened to them. "I have a full inventory of everyone who was buried here and although the gravestone doesn't say it, her baby was buried with her, the child died too," Bob said.

He added: "Sometimes people come along looking into their family history and I've been able to help them. Once a year Methodists from the Pendle area meet here in the garden to sing hymns. They ask permission obviously, and although some people here might think it's strange, I'm happy to let them do it."