THE MOST poignant Historic England listing amongst the 510 new listings announced this week is the gravestone of Wallace Hartley in Colne. As every Colner knows, Wallace was the band leader on the doomed Titanic. According to legend, the band played Nearer My God To Thee as the ship sank, and the sheet music of the hymn, together with his violin, is carved into his gravestone.
A huge crowd, estimated at 40,000, turned out for the funeral after his body was recovered from the sea. His violin also survived, in a leather case strapped to his body, and was auctioned in 2013 for £900,000. A memorial to him in the town centre, on the route of the funeral procession, has also been listed Grade II.
