Day 34. Gravestones

The wealthy and influential have long recorded their lives and achievements in an after-death memorial, often placed inside a church or cathedral. The Marriett and West families – lords of the manor of Preston from the 17^th century to the present day – have several elaborate memorials in the chancel of Preston church.

Antiquarian James West purchased the Alscot Estate in 1747. His memorial is in the centre.

Gravestones placed in the churchyard to mark the resting places of wealthier people who didn't qualify for a church memorial became commonplace from the late 17^th century. They were erected by the deceased's loved ones, or sometimes a person would leave careful instructions in their will for the design of their tomb. The earliest surviving gravestone in Preston dates to 1695 – that of Mary Souch, the young wife of a wealthy yeoman farmer. The stones were designed on a bespoke basis, and the epitaphs often seem to be unique.

 

The eroded gravestone of Mary Souch. Note that the name 'Thomas' has been split over two lines, and the word 'Tomb' at the bottom has had the letter 'b' inserted above. This may indicate that the mason was illiterate.

Most of the gravestones in Preston churchyard are vertical stones. A few are elaborate table tombs or slabs; some were once surrounded with iron railings. Other wealthy landowners had memorials erected on the outer church walls. Many of the humbler residents of Preston could afford nothing to mark their resting place – or, perhaps, had no loved ones to care. Only a raised area of earth betrays these sites.

Preston Churchyard, showing an array of stones, box tombs and wall monuments.

 

This stone beside the church path was erected for John Phipps, who died in 1699, and Ann Phipps, who died in 1704, two children of Matthew and Mary Phipps of Whitehill Farm. The now-eroded skeletons and hourglass were intended to remind those passing of the proximity of death, as were the inscriptions mememto mori and remember to die.

The epitaph beneath reads:

How Poore a Trifle is ye life of Man

Whose longest period is but a span

Yet on it doth eternity depend

Lose not one moment more but NOW ATTEND.

The gravestone of Sarah Farr, the wife of Preston's miller, displays a similar 'memento mori' message. The epitaph is relatively common.

We shall continue with more recent gravestones tomorrow.