FRIENDSHIP and harmony reigns among the churches of Haydock these days.

But that certainly wasn't the case during its pit-village days of early Victoria times when the community was violently split by what became labelled the infamous 'pig's head incident.'

Over many years I'd heard mention of that trouble-torn episode, though any detail gathered had proved fuzzy or incomplete. But now, thanks to a booklet recently forwarded to me by veteran reader Vernon Smallwood, formerly of Haydock but now living in Newton-le-Willows, I've obtained chapter and verse on that local 'religious war'.

It reverberated throughout the Kingdom after a pig's head, given by a farmer towards the harvest festival offerings, took on dark and unexpected significance.

The full story is unfolded in a booklet entitled 'A History of the Parish of St James the Great, Haydock' written during the 1960s by G. E. Lowe. It was that particular church which had found itself in the eye of the religious storm, victims of those opposed to 'high' Church of England practices under a rector with the suffix of Father who had introduced full catholic teaching and practices at St James's.

Though he must have realised that this action was a brave one in an area which had long been protestant in tradition, Fr. Alan Greenwell (first Vicar of Haydock 1866-69) could scarcely have anticipated the level of reaction.

It led, in those less enlightened Victorian times, to headlines in the national press, reveals G. E. Lowe's book, while The Times also published train times to Haydock "so that visitors could come to this supposedly eccentric place".

Fr. Greenwell, a man in poor health, had been rector of Golborne, then a chaplain at Durham Jail, before moving to Haydock. There, he immediately began to work hard in establishing high-church tradition.

"Scarcely a month after the consecration, the Haydock Anti-Ritualist Society was formed", explains the booklet. "This minority group - some not even members of the Church of England - sponsored many lectures locally, most of them given by the rabble-rouser type who cared little for fact and less for the Church".

They would bellow 'No Popery!' on request - "provided they were paid for their services". Fr. Greenwell occasionally turned up and was usually more than a match for the agitators.

Things really came to a head in 1866 when an elaborate harvest festival was planned, beginning with a procession of the offerings, including that fateful pig's head.

"This gave the anti-ritualists a perfect opportunity to ridicule Fr. Greenwell and his church", writes G. E. Lowe. "Correspondence raged in local and national newspapers about the pig's head incident, and the satirical magazine Punch, which was violently opposed to ritualism, published a full-page cartoon..."

This showed a priest offering a pig's head at the altar, even though the St James's sacristan, Arthur Evans, of the mine-owning Evans dynasty, wrote to the papers pointing out that the pig's head had been merely placed on a side table with the other harvest offerings.

But Evans's explanation had little, if any, effect. The Times reported that: "There has lately been a grand ritualistic revival at Haydock ...which will defy Rhineland to surpass".

And to add further insult to injury, Madame Tussaud, of waxworks fame, inquired about buying the pig's head. A letter, written on her behalf, asked the church to quote a price for the pig's head and ended: "It will be a valuable addition to her collection, as it has attracted so much attention, and, if cured, she is prepared to pay a good price for it".

Needless to say, the bid was rejected and the offending item, like the rest of the harvest offerings, was sold for charity.

A year later, Fr. Greenwell, then described in one newspaper as a "zealous and kind-hearted pastor", left St James's which he had established as one of the first anglo-catholic parishes in the North.

TODAY, a healthy atmosphere prevails in that one-time small-minded pit village which has developed, over the intervening 136 years, into a thriving and ever-expanding district with strong ecumenical links.