Matters of Grave Concern part 11
EPITAPHS frequently give grim warnings of one sort or another and one such in Devizes in Wiltshire is recorded, not on a grave but on the Market Cross. It has these sobering words.
'On Thursday 25th January 1753, Ruth Pierce, of Potterne in this county, agreed with three other women to buy a sack of wheat in the market, each paying her due proportion towards the same.
One of these women, in collecting the several quarters of money discovered a deficiency, and demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good the amount.
Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share, and said that she wished she might drop dead if she had not. She rashly repeated this awful wish, when, to the consternation of the surrounding multitude, she instantly fell down and expired, having the money concealed in her hand'
Now after that let us look for something a bit more light hearted.
As I said last week some memorials can just make you wonder what they mean. For example what about this one from Nettlebed in Oxfordshire.
'Here lies father and mother
And sister and I
We all died within the space of one year
They all be buried be buried at Wimble
Except I
And I be buried here'
Another oddity from Dunoon in Scotland goes:
'Here lies the remains of Thomas Woodhen
The most amiable of husbands
And excellent of men
His real name was Woodcock
But it wouldn't come in rhyme'
This business of altering words or names to fit a rhyming scheme is quite common and here's another example.
'Here lies John Bun
He was killed by a gun
His real name was not Bun but Wood
But Wood would Not rhyme with Gun
But Bun (Wood) would'
Some memorials contain puns, riddles or double meanings and over a man called Penny is inscribed:
'If, of money you are in need of any
Dig six feet down and you will find a Penny'
From Scotland we get:
'Here lies John Taggart of honest fame
Of stature low, and a leg lame
Content he was with portion small
Kept a shop in Wigtown - and that's all'
Here's another example of where the rhyme has been changed for convenience:
'Here lies the body of Mary Jones
Who died from swallowing cherry stones
Her name was Smith, it was not Jones
But Jones was put to rhyme with Stones'
This epitaph is from St Clair in Canada.
'Sacred to the memory of Anthony Drake
Who died for peace and quietness sake
His wife was constantly scolding and scoffing
So he sought repose in a twelve dollar coffin'
From Talbach in North Wales we can read:
'Hurrah me boys at the Parson's fall
For if he'd lived he'd have buried us all
Poems and epitaphs are but stuff
Here lies Bib Barrass anf that's enough'
Anne Roberts - an actress at Norwich had:
'The world's a stage, at birth our plays begun
And all find exits when their parts are done'
I will end with an epitaph from Whitby and I have searched for it twice, but without success.
Of course, many of these old graves are so eroded as to make reading the inscriptions impossible. I may well have seen the grave without even recognising it.
It is said to be just outside St Mary's Church, up on the cliff top, near the Abbey. It tells of a couple who were born on the same day - the 19th September, 1600.
They had twelve children. They died on their 80th birthdays - just five hours apart. The words are in Olde English but quite understandable.
'Husband and wife that did twelve children bear
Died the same day -alike both aged were
'Bout eighty years they lived - five hours did part
Even on the marriage day each tender heart
So fit a match, surely, never could be
Both, in their lives, and in their deaths, agree'
Next week in Part 12 - Long Livers
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Weather for Epworth
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
