08/07/2026
I was out today and come across an old church so i had to stop and take a walk around and i was drawn to this Grave stone so i got out the Sermoon P1 and started scanning i could not see the words until i processed the scan so with a little digging around i found a story ...
Scanned using the Sermoon p1 in Texture mode ...
Everything has a story you only have to look:
Grave stone scan in St Andrew graveyard in Maghull, we are looking at a profound family story hidden beneath a permanent historical error.
The carved text tells us that James Winstanley died in January 1893. However, the official parish burial register records his burial in January 1892. It seems the family or the stonemason made a classic new year typo that remains etched in stone over a century later.
Behind the dates is a story of incredible resilience. In 1873, James lost his young wife and his eldest daughter in the space of just four weeks. Left alone with two babies, his family rallied around him. His sister and his brother in law, Henry Turner, who was a wealthy industrial tycoon and the Mayor of Stockport, helped ensure James surviving sons were deeply cared for.
One of those baby boys, Robert, grew up to achieve incredible things. He trained in architecture and emigrated to Australia, where he became the City Engineer for Brunswick in Melbourne. Instead of just designing a single building, Robert actively shaped the civic bones and street layouts of a rapidly expanding city. He became an early pioneer for progressive town planning, advocating for visual harmony in modern urban design.
The exceptional detail visible in these captures shows how digital heritage can connect a quiet churchyard in the North West of England to the infrastructure of a major global city. Every stone has a story, and digital preservation ensures these narratives are never forgotten.
