A PROUD Farnworthian is on a quest to solve the mystery of a missing gravestone belonging to the 19th century benefactor who gifted the town its park.

Paul Sanders is searching for the gravestone of Thomas Barnes, a successful Farnworth cotton trader and Bolton MP, who gave Farnworth Park to people of the town in 1864.

The large flag stone, a memorial to Barnes and four family members, was laid in an area known as Quiet Alley, behind what is now Burton and Lloyds Bank in Market Street.

But the pathway became weed-strewn, full of litter and a target for vandals.

In 2002 The Bolton News reported how town hall chiefs planned to remove the stone with the intention of restoring it and moving it to a more fitting location.

It was moved sometime during the middle of that decade but has never been given a new home and its whereabouts remain surrounded in mystery.

Mr Sanders, who is director of publicity for new political group Farnworth and Kearsley First, said it was time there was a proper memorial to the famous benefactor in the park.

The 30-year-old said: “The 2002 article in the Bolton Evening News is the first and last time we heard about the plans for Thomas Barnes’ gravestone.

“Some 15 years have passed and nothing has happened, so I am trying to find out what has gone on.

“It’s a strange one to think you can remove something to restore it and to find a place in the park suitable with flowerbeds and what have you – but to appear not to know where it went, I can’t fathom that.

“It’s all a bit of a murky, muddy picture at the minute and if I can get some clear answers I can move on. If no one knows where it’s gone, then I can ask we do something about it.”

Mr Sanders has spoken to Bolton Archives History Centre and John White, manager of Overdale Crematorium, as well as Cllr Noel Spencer, who was involved in the 2002 plans, but has been unable to unearth the truth about the old place-marker.

He is now calling for help to find the stone or to create a new one and have it placed in the park, possibly at the site of the old bandstand.

He said: “We need to find out who was accountable or if mistakes have been made and it's been smashed up or in a warehouse.

"But it doesn’t belong to the council and we need to know the chain of events.

“Our benefactor gifted people the park and his memory has been depleted and deleted. We want recognition for Thomas Barnes and for the park itself.

“I am hopeful that Thomas Barnes’ gravestone still exists somewhere, but if Bolton Council cannot find it, Farnworth and Kearsley First feel that it is only right that a replacement stone or statue is commissioned and placed somewhere quiet in a new garden setting.”

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: “Thomas Barnes was a local politician and benefactor who has great importance in Farnworth.

"We are currently looking through our archives and stores to see if we can track down who removed this stone and what happened to it.”

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the gravestone or its inscription should contact Paul via email at farnworthandkearsleyfirst@outlook.com