Old archway to jaw about

IT must have been the most extraordinary landmark of all time - an archway formed from two huge jawbones of a whale.

And this amazing feature gave rise to a little settlement becoming known, perhaps not unsurprisingly, as the Jaw Bones area of St Helens.

That nickname has all but vanished into the mists of time, the district in question being now officially listed as Green Leach.

But that off-beat glimmer from its distant past has been unearthed for us by Gordon Carroll, a keen delver into bygone times, who lives in Haresfinch Road, St Helens (just round the corner from the former Jaw Bones district).

Gordon, a 73-year-old retired fitting-shop foreman with Pilkingtons, has traced a 1933 newspaper account of the removal of an old sycamore tree to make way for road improvements in Green Leach Lane.

It was the last link with what was even then - 65 years ago - just a half-forgotten landmark.

For the tree had occupied the original site of that whale-jaw archway which, 80 years earlier, had spanned the ancient and then much narrower, lane.

Nosing around for historical details, the reporter of the day had visited a 60-year-old John Anders at Green Leach House, his family having lived in that locality for more than a century.

His father, Richard, had recently died at the age of 87, having lived in Green Leach House all his life before passing away in the same room in which he was born! Which made him something of a reliable authority on the district's earlier times.

Richard had recounted stories to his son about how he and his boyhood chums had swarmed over those jaw bones and how folk used to carve their initials in them and cut off pieces as souvenirs.

But the mystery remains as to how those bones came to be hauled to this unexpected inland site and why they were erected in such a manner.

As time went by, the bony arch collapsed onto the road. Its fate from that point is also unknown, although John Anders was able to produce a two-foot length of whalebone, measuring nine inches across, which his mother had retrieved. An example of the postal efficiency of the last century was given by the fact that letters to the Anders family would arrive safely even when sketchily addressed as 'Mr Anders, Jaw Bones, St Helens.'

With the removal of the whale bones, the old district nickname faded out and the newer Green Leach title became widely used.

But that old Jaw Bones neighbourhood wrote some vivid chapters, including the murder of Adam Mather, an old man who lived with his wife in a little cottage on the opposite side of the road from the bony archway.

In those days it was common practice to keep all money in the house. And as many of the homes had no locks or bars, the outer doors were made secure by wedging a tilted chair behind them. But this failed to keep a burglar out of old Adam's cottage.

Roused from his bed by a noise downstairs, he went to defend his property. It was a fatal mistake. Adam had scarcely reached the kitchen when the murderer dashed at him, slashing his throat with a cut-throat razor.

After slashing out at Adam's wife, the murderer fled, never to be traced.

It didn't take long before most of the houses in the neighbourhood were fitted with bolts. Bars were hurriedly added to windows.

But there was a humorous sequel to this grim tale, concerning 'Adam Mather's ghost.'

A gang of men from the Gerards Bridge area of St Helens went on the spree to Billinge, a character known as 'Old Slobby' among them.

On their late return, Old Slobby was too drunk to walk, and he finally collapsed as they were passing the Anders home. The resourceful boozing party calmly lifted the garden gate from its hinges, using it as a stretcher to carry away their stricken chum.

Old Mr Anders, witnessing this from his bedroom window, didn't wait to dress. He gave pursuit in his white night-shirt. And his eerie appearance in almost pitch-black darkness startled the swaying revellers. With shouts of: "It's Adam Mather's Ghost!" they dumped Old Slobby and bolted.

The old Jaw Bones settlement had little social life, apart from ploughing competitions, regarded as a highlight of the social calendar and staged in fields later to be divided by the East Lancashire Road.

The ploughmen of Jaw Bones had a reputation for being formidable competitors in pursuit of those agricultural laurels.

MANY thanks to Gordon Carroll for bringing this intriguing episode back to light.

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