Prince Albert's Stone
By Colin Greenall

On Friday 1st February 2008 I received a telephone call from Bernie McDonald who lives at Fiddlers Ferry asking if I knew anything about the stone commemorating the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, the answer to which was no!

He then told me about this stone which stands on the bank of the River Mersey by Fiddlers Ferry Lock and we then arranged a meeting for Sunday 3rd February.

Sunday 3rd February, 2008: Site visit to Fiddlers Ferry and to meet up with Bernie & Ruth McDonald

It was very cold and very windy when I arrived at Fiddlers Ferry, gave Bernie and his daughter Ruth a call as arranged, and we met up by the Lock.

They led me to the site of the stone on the bank of the River Mersey, sure enough there were the two halves of what had once been a commemorative stone with the inscription:

"In Remembrance of Albert Prince Consort who died in England September 1851"

The siting of this stone, now in two pieces, was the reason for my visit and for Ruth and her dad's concern, it was a mystery. However the problem was soon solved by one of the locals out walking his dog. When he saw us looking at the stone he came up with the answer to the question of where had it originated from, he said that it came from the barracks wall at the back of Warrington Town Hall and had been brought to Fiddlers Ferry by the occupants of the Black Shed from where they ran a small boat maintenance business in the 1950's. Apparently one of them was a Councillor for Warrington (Cllr Hughes).

Can any of our readers come up with more information about this stone?

Editor's Note: By coincidence, I received the above from Colin on April 27th. Within a few days I received the email below:

My name is Peter Rutherford. I help Penketh High School with their Local Heritage Centre.

I was photographing a stone near the Fiddlers Ferry lock recently and met a Mr Ian Hannah, who told me there were several such stones positioned at intervals along the canal towpath to serve as "Travellers' Rests". The one in question has been moved and is now on the river bank in two pieces. Do you know any more about these stones? Did they all bear the same inscription, how many there were, and who decided to place them?

The pieces in question could be moved to a safer home at Penketh High School and it would be nice to be able to tell visitors to the Heritage Centre something about them.

My own understanding is that this is a mounting block from the days when everyone rode horses. Perhaps placed here for travellers using the nearby Fiddlers Ferry across the Mersey. It was intact when I first saw it in the early 1980s. - Ed.

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