Chapter 4 - The Headless Virgin

The grotto of Mary’s Junction had been a target of vandalism from soon after it had been completed in the 1920’s. The Virgin Mary at the centre of the grotto had been decapitated so many times that locals now referred to her as the headless virgin. The grotto had been built on the site of a temporary railway camp by the mainly Irish Catholic workers who were upgrading the line.

When the camp had first been established there had been regular fights between the railway workers and the Protestant Pitsiders on Saturday nights. This was mostly fuelled by drink, and a Catholic priest had been called in to tend to the spiritual needs of the labourers and hopefully reduce the amount of alcohol consumed. An agreement was reached that the Pitsiders would continue to get drunk on a Saturday night, but that the railway workers would get drunk on a Sunday afternoon with their Sabbath finishing at midday. With the two communities avoiding being drunk at the same time they no longer clashed and went back to having small scale fights amongst themselves.

This, however, left the railway workers with nothing to do on a Saturday. It was then that the priest came up with the idea of building a grotto celebrating the Virgin Mary. After working all week with railway sleepers and digging foundations, the grotto was a welcome relief, providing relatively light and detailed work. It soon became a genuine labour of love for many of the workers and its’ fame quickly spread. The Sunday morning mass began to attract worshippers from miles around. The camp, being temporary, had no name. This was a problem when directing people to it on a map. Keen to avoid further conflict with the local community, the priest did not want to call it Pitside Grotto, so he renamed the nearby railway junction, the only other landmark, Mary’s Junction. A map showing Mary’s Junction on flyers was handed out in nearby chapels. The workers painted over the old junction name and by the time the camp was dismantled, the junction had been renamed without anyone every officially agreeing the change.

The only problem the Grotto faced after the camp was dismantled was that there were no longer one hundred Irish labourers to protect it and a long history of vandalism began, with decapitation of the virgin a favourite pastime.

Kenny and Hugh stood staring at the Perspex box the Virgin Mary was now safely protected within.

“When did they do that?” said Hugh, not expecting any kind of an answer.

“Must have cost a fortune! Look, they’ve got lights as well. She must get lit up at night,” said Kenny.

“What a waste of money,” said Hugh as he threw a rock and watched it bounce off the transparent wall. “I hope it was the RC’s that paid for it and not the council.”

“It’s not the same, covered up like that,” said Kenny.

They sat on the dry stone wall admiring the strength of the construction as they lobbed a few more stones at it.

“Let’s go,” said Hugh eventually. “No point hanging around if we can’t even vandalise it.”

“End of an era,” said Kenny as they made their way back along the road back to Pitside.

The London to Glasgow train passed over the nearby junction, drowning out their voices momentarily. Kenny looked up towards the train.

“Why do you think it’s called Mary’s Junction? Who do you think she was?” said Kenny.

“No idea,” said Hugh.

The clouds opened and it began to rain.