Thomas Bony - Newtown Linford

This is one of my favourite headstones. It has writing on both sides and seems to have been added to on at least two occasions. As yet, I can't decipher all of it.

First inscription:

Hear : Lyeth : The Body

of : Thomas : Boney : Son

To : John : Boney : Who

Departed This Life

July 1683  

The second inscription follows on below with a slightly different letter spacing, indicating it was added some time afterwards:

And Ione (Jone?)

Bony His Wife

Who Dyed March 1696

The third inscription in a different lettering again occupies the very top of the stone, above a crudely cut horizontal line:

HICKIA set

Then squeezed in on the right hand side at the top:

JOHN : BONY

AND : HIS : 5 : WIES

A lower case letter 'e' sits just below the enigmatic word 'WIES'. Is this really John Bony and his five wives? Did someone called Hickia bury (set) John and his extended family there under the ground? I would love to know.

It wasn't until I walked away from this fascinating headstone that I noticed yet another inscription on the other side. Once again, this is in two different hands, presumably added at two different times:

First part:

As i Am so shallt Thou Bee

Pre Pare Thy self To follow mee

 

Second part:

 

Blessed . are . the . Dead . Wich . die . in . the

LorD . that . they . mae . rest . from . their

labers And Their . works . follo . Them

 

rev 14 verr 13

This is a quotation from the Revelation of St John the Divine, chapter 14 verse 13. I can't find this exact wording but the passage is clear enough. It would be interesting to know what translation they would have had access to at that time.

And finally, there is an illustration: a face and an arrow pointing to the ground.