Lawrence Earnshaw in Mottram in Longdendale, Tameside

On the wall of the Court House, Market Place, Mottram in Longdendale:

 

'Lawrence Earnshaw

1707–1767

Ingenious inventor born in Mottram.

He created an elaborate astronomical clock.

A modest man who did not seek fame.

This building houses a clock bearing his

name and a monument to him stands

in Mottram Churchyard.'

 

Lawrence Earnshaw's monument at Mottram. There are four different inscriptions around the base:

 

'LAWRENCE EARNSHAW

MOTTRAM

DIED MAY 12^TH 1767

AND WAS BURIED IN THE

ADJOINING CHURCHYARD.'

 

'A SELF-TAUGHT GENIUS AND

OF HUMBLE BIRTH HIS TALENTS

AS AN INVENTOR ANITCIPATED

BY MANY YEAR THE DISCOVERIES

OF OTHER EMINENT MEN.'

 

'BY HIS SKILL IN GEOMETRY

AND

ACQUIREMENTS AS A MECHANICIAN

HE DESIGNED AND CONSTRUCTED

AN ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK

REGISTERING THE REVOLUTIONS

OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND

THE FLOW OF THE TIDES.'

  

'A CENTURY AFTER HIS DECEASE

THE ADMIRERS OF HIS GENIUS

AND WORTH

ERECTED THIS MEMORIAL.

A. D. 1867.'

 

'JOHN EATON

ASHTON'

 

The Hyde poet James Leigh mentions Earnshaw's memorial in this verse from one his dialect poems in Glimpses of Sunlight and Other Poems:

 

'Bu' come, we'll have a look through t' yard
Th' owd ancient burial-greaund
Wheer Mottram's dead for ages
Ha'n slept so snug an' seaund;
We'll visit Earnshaw's Monument
(Neglected in his day
This cenotaph ne'er mark'd his worth
Till years had pass'd away).'

 

Below is a link to an online article on Earnshaw in the Tameside Citizen, with several more verses from Leigh's poem:

 

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'A Tribute to Lawrence Earnshaw'