Welsh slate headstones

St Mary in the Elms churchyard in Woodhouse has a number of beautifully engraved 18th Century headstones, noticeably different in style from those in Newtown Linford, for example. By 'different' I mean to say that the writing is well laid out on the stone, the capitalisation is regular, and the spelling has not been subsequently corrected.

John Boley's headstone is a good example:

Here lyeth Interred

the Body of John Boley

who departed this life

October the 3rd Ano. Dom

1721 Aged 32 Years

Were the masons in Woodhouse more skilled and literate than those in Newtown Linford? Or were the people of Woodhouse who could not afford a more expensive mason being buried in some other churchyard?

One indication of the money being spent on the Woodhouse burials is the type of stone being used. We can get a clearer look at this on the reverse side.

 

I would need to do a microscopic comparison to be certain, but to my eye this is Welsh slate rather than the local Charnwood Slate. Welsh slate cleaves far more regularly. The unevenness of Charnwood slate gives the roofs of local houses their particular charm, but it must be far harder for the mason to work with.

 

This is certainly Welsh slate:

 

And this is local stone, complete with tool marks:

 

 

 

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The Riddle of Double Dated Headstones

Why do some early headstones give two years of death for the same person? The headstone of Richard Broadas in Woodhouse is a beautiful example.

 

Here lieth ye Body of

Richard the Son of

Antony Broadas Who

died ye 20th of Feb:1702/3

aged 22 years

 

How could he had died in both 1702 and 1703?

To find the answer we have to look back to the Calendar (New Style) Act, which was adopted by parliament in 1750.

Previously England, Wales, Ireland and the Colonies had used the Julian Calendar and celebrated New Year on March 25th. The Act formally adopted the Gregorian Calendar and set New Year on the now familiar day of January 1st.

One curious byproduct of this change was that the year 1751, was left with only 282 days.

The use of double dates on headstones shows that for a time the two dating systems co-existed. Thus, any day after January 1st and before March 24th might be regarded as being in one of two adjacent years.

This double dated headstone in Newtown Linford is another example. William Poole is said to have died on the 16th of March 1605/6. According to the Old Style calendar he died in 1605 (new year had not yet been reached). But according to the New Style calendar the new year happened in January, so it was already 1606.

The New Style calendar had been adopted in other parts of the world many years before. The changeover took place in Scotland in 1600 and earlier still in Catholic Europe.

From the double dating of headstones and other documents it seems that the change of new year had for some time been seeping into popular usage in England, but that legal documents used the old system until the formal changeover in 1752.

Lucy Patchet - Woodhouse

The village of Swithland was supposed to be my destination today, but roadworks and a possible detour of several miles triggered a change of plan. It was by chance then that I came to the delightful village of Woodhouse and the 15th Century church of St Mary-In-The-Elms.

 

 

 

 

Lucy Patchet's headstone was bathed in sunshine.

 

here

lieth Interr'd the Body of

Lucy Daughter of

JOHN & ANNE PATCHET

She departed this Life

June the 5th: 1760

Aged Eleven Weeks

 

This pretty Babe is gone to Rest

With those who liv'd and dy'd ye Best