BLACKBURN’S historic Spiritualist Church is seeking to find an appropriate home for the contents of a 1901 ‘time capsule’ found when the original building was demolished.
Hidden behind the original Foundation Stones builders discovered a copy of the religion’s newspaper Two Worlds dating back more than 100 years.
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Now the church’s elders are considering how to incorporate the preserved newsprint, the foundation stones and the carved title stone in their new temple, opened earlier this month.
Blackburn Spiritualist Centre had to move from its home in St Peter Street when it was demolished to make way for the new link road extension between Montague Street and the Wainwright Bridge.
A key part of the new temple in Princes Street is the original foundation and title stones laid in 1901.
Committee member Glynis Holt revealed how the early 20th century time capsule was discovered.
She said: “When the contractors moved the foundation stones they found three chambers behind them.
“The first was empty. The second contained a newspaper that crumbled when they picked it up.
“The third contained a perfectly-preserved copy of Two Worlds from 1901.
“We are now deciding how best to display it in the new centre.”
Demolition of the old Spiritualist Temple began in October this year, but it wasn’t until Friday, November 7, that the original foundation and title stones were back where they belong.
Their final resting place is yet to be decided and the committee are currently putting together a plan to apply for lottery funding to enable those founder members memorial stones to take pride of place in the grounds of the new centre.
President Elaine Goodman said: “It was a surprise to everyone to find a ‘time capsule’ at the back of the stones – a memory from the week the stone was laid in 1901 from the Spiritualist newspaper Two Worlds.
“We are considering how we can preserve the century-old newspaper.
“J T Ward, Alfred Smedley and Stephen Robinson will be remembered with the foundation stones.
“What else can I say? It’s been an emotional time for all of us.”
The centre hosts a major event on Friday when internationally-renowned medium David Traynor will conduct an ‘Evening of Mediumship’ to raise funds to restore the Foundation Stone and carved church title and move them to a suitable resting place within the grounds of the new centre.
The demolition and relocation of the spiritualist church was key to plans to complete the town’s orbital route allowing the Wainwright ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ to finally have a destination.
After lengthy talks in 2012, a deal was finally agreed to allow the demolition of the existing church and build a replacement.
Despite further arguments about the number of graves in the graveyard of the nearby St Peter’s C of E Church on its route, the long saga which saw the £12 million Wainwright Bridge (started in 2006) begin is now close to completion.
In 2008 it hit problems over objections from English Heritage to the demolition of the Old Police House in King Street.
The orbital road is set to be completed next including a link from Bolton Road to Preston Old Road between Freckleton Street and Montague Street.
The development will also allow the completion of the knowledge zone around the college/university campus.
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