The Halliwell Window

The Halliwell window depicts the story of the Good Samaritan. Its history is a sad one. The Halliwells had three sons, the eldest of whom went away to fight in the war and was killed in action. The second son joined up, became an officer and was badly injured. He came home but did not recover and died of his wounds. The youngest son was too young to fight in the war, but died young in an accident on the Great Orme where he fell to his death. Mr Halliwell was an estate agent and quite prominent in the town. On his retirement they moved to the seaside, but when Mrs Halliwell was widowed she found herself unable to settle there and came back to Oldham, buying a house as close to the church as she could, on St Thomas Street. The Vicar would visit her regularly, and each time he went away on holiday she would ask him to promise that, if she died whilst he was away, he would come back to conduct her funeral service. Each time he would agree, confident that it was unlikely to happen. However the Vicar did eventually keep his promise, when she died he was on holiday in Nevyn, and drove home for the funeral, returning the same day to continue his holiday!