GRAVE POETRY: St Bartholomew's Church, Norton in the Moors, North Staffordshire
GRAVE POETRY
St Bartholomew’s Church, Norton-le-Moors,
North Staffordshire
by
Charles E S Fairey &
Michael C Oakes
September 2024
GRAVE POETRY
Grave Poetry is a timeless tradition, with many examples up and down the
country, but it became especially fashionable during the Victorian Era, when
there was much emphasis on death and mourning, especially because Queen
Victoria lost her young husband, Prince Albert, and was in a perpetual state of
mourning for the rest of her life. There was much written at the time about the
rules and forms of mourning.
The words we find in poems upon Georgian and Victorian grave stones, ask
the viewer to contemplate their own mortality, and are especially religious, pointing
viewers toward belief. It does often seem, as if the Dead are speaking to us,
from ‘beyond the grave!’
Gravestones are meant to be immortal, and were believed to last forever,
as a shrine for those who cared for the occupant(s), to mourn their loved ones,
and place tokens of their love and affection at the immortal stone altar, and
to contemplate their own death.
In this way the inscriptions are really immortal words, and if they
include a message, a teaching, for those yet to meet their Creator, then that
message should be heeded, and regarded as a guide to the living, of the journey
to their deathly abode, for them to better their form of spiritual transition,
from life to the doorway of death.
It does not especially matter for the viewer of such, if not a relative,
to care for the life of the grave’s occupant(s), or those they have left
behind, but that or those occupant(s), care or cares that you heed their words,
from beyond the veil of death.
“The Truth We Must Seek
The Dead Really Do Speak”
These grave poems can be classed under the term ‘Memento Mori’.
Since the Medieval period, there has been a tradition of ‘Memento Mori’, which is a phrase which means ‘remember death’, and was a medieval
theory to teach the living that they should reflect upon mortality, and
consider the vanity of the earthly abode, and the transient nature of all
earthly goods and pursuits. There are many phrases, images and symbols related
to death, which we now include under the ‘Memento
Mori’ banner.
People who come to realise the importance of this act of dying through perfecting their character, and ultimately knowing themselves, and understanding the detachment from this life, and understanding the virtue of preparing themselves for the afterlife. As well as grasping the immortality of their own soul, and its salvation and thus its place within the spiritual landscape. Such as the three realms, which exist in many religions, both monotheistic and polytheistic, and other world belief systems, as the Earth, Heaven and Hell; view death more as a friend than a foe.
Such phrases as “Remember Man that you are dust and unto the dust you shall return”, “Remember that thou shalt die”, and “Prepare to meet thy God”, remind us of the fragility of life, and that we must try and learn how we should best prepare ourselves for the hereafter, and the transition from a physical realm to a spiritual realm, before it is too late.
The most famous Memento Mori phrase or be it a rhyme is:-
“Ring a ring a roses,
A pocket full of posies
A-tish-oo, a-tish-oo
We all fall down”
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The Grave Poetry at St Bartholomew’s Church, Norton-le-Moors
Usually in churchyards up and down the country, a number of gravestones
include an inscription with a ‘Memento Mori’ Poem. However, it is pretty rare
to have as many as those found at St Bartholomew’s Church, at Norton-le-Moors
in North Staffordshire, other than the large Victorian cemeteries in British
cities. Here we find multiple Victorian and a few Georgian graves with a
message from beyond the grave, to remind the viewer, to contemplate death.
In Cheshire, some churchyards have a few grave poems, but here at St
Bartholomew’s’ in North Staffordshire we find around 90 plus examples visible
today; although some are either obscured, or too worn to read, but many which
have stood the test of time, to remind us that we will die.
We have selected 52 examples on graves from around the perimeter of the
Church, there are quite a few more, but obscured where lichin grows over them,
or they are too worn or damaged to be read.
If all the graves were uncovered in the churchyard, and were to be
recorded, it is very likely there will be more examples of such poetical
‘Memento Mori’.
We recorded this selection of St Bartholomew’s’ Grave Poems, which you will
find below, to interest the reader, who may not be able to visit Norton-le-Moors
near Stoke on Trent, or who may not have time to search them out, for your
interest, but also to remind us that death is something not to fear, and
something which is paramount to prepare for in life.
Far too many folk fear death, and tend to shy away from it, although it
is an inevitable part of life, so in that way, these poems may help those who
are interested, either from a spiritual, poetical or even historical sense, to
contemplate death, and prepare. That reason is why these deathly verses existed
in the first place.
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At St Bartholomew’s’ we have recorded 52 Grave Poems on Gravestones, and
have numbered them and placed their locations upon a Google Satellite Image of
the Churchyard, see below, so that anybody who reads this article, if they so wish
to, are able to follow in our footsteps, and find each poetical inscription for
themselves.
We have kept the monumental inscriptions of the graves, to just the
transcription of the poems, and the name and date of the first buried, we have
not transcribed the rest of the inscriptions, which record all the occupants of
the graves, and their date of death, and/or burial, etc, because this article
deals with the poetical message, and to include the rest of the information,
would probably bore the reader. And essentially, the poems are the important
message to those, who are not descendants of those in the graves.
It also takes some of the personal emphasis away from the emotions of
the reader, and thereby keeps the heart concentrating upon their messages, and
not the person at rest, so is much more personal to the reader’s heart
generally, as well as acting as an individual teaching, so that each person who
reads the verses, may reflect upon their meaning and message.
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“The
Dead Really Do Speak
And Their
Wisdom We Must Seek”
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Grave No. 1
Ann Dean 1837:
“What though friends’ may weep around
This shall
heal their every wound,
Resteth she
among the blest,
Where theire
is everlasting rest.”
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Grave No. 2
Ellin Scragg 1763:
“Mourn not Husband & Children dear
I’m not dead
but sleeping here
My debt is
paid my Grave you see
Stay but a
while you’l follow me”
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Grave No. 3
John & Mary Sherrett 1820:
“Hannah Sherratt is my Name
England is my
Nation
Heaven is my
dwelling place
And Christ is
my Salvation”
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Grave No. 4
John Shaw 1840:
“He” lived Respected,
And died
Lamented,
By his
Relations and friends.”
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Grave No. 5
John Vyse 1839:
“A pale consumption, gave the fatal blow,
The stroke
was certain, though the effect was slow,
With
lingering pain, heaven saw me sure oppressed
Pitied my sighs,
and kindly gave me rest.”
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Grave No. 6
William Turner 1854:
“Blessed are the dead which die in
the Lord for
they rest from their
Labours, and
their works do
follow them.”
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Grave No. 7
“Thou wast too good with us on earth to stay,
And we not
good enough to go thy way,
Fare well
most dear since Life is past,
We hope in
Heaven to meet at last.”
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Grave No. 8
Trooper Walter Ronald Repton 1916:
“ON THE EGYPTIAN DESERT HE IS LAID TO REST,
HIS HARD
FIGHT WON, HIS DUTY NOBLY DONE,
HIS HEART WAS
GOOD HIS SPIRIT BRAVE,
HE’S SLEEPING
IN A HERD’S GRAVE.
GREATER LOVE
HATH NO MAN THAN THIS,
THAT A MAN
LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.”
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Grave No. 9
James Plant 1854:
“Happy soul thy days are ended,
All thy
mourning days below,
Go by angel
guards attended,
To the throne
of Jesus, go.”
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Grave No. 10
Annie Elizabeth Willshaw 1862:
“Refrain your tears, pray shed no more
Because your
child is gone before,
In love she
liv’d in peace she died,
Her life was
ask’d, but was denied.”
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Grave No. 11
Hannah Bishop 1929:
“LIFE IS ETERNAL LOVE WILL REMAIN,
IN GOD’S OWN
TIME, WE SHALL MEET AGAIN.”
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Grave No. 12
Mary Billinge 1852:
“Their toils are past their work is done,
And they are
fully blest;
They fought
the fight the victory won,
And entered
in to rest."
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Grave No. 13
George Fox 1882:
“DAY AFTER DAY WE SAW THEM FADE
AND GENTLY
SINK AWAY;
YET OFTEN OUR
HEARTS WE PRAYED,
THAT THEY
MIGHT LONGER STAY.”
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Grave No. 14
Eliza Jolley 1849:
“We firmly trust, though here her dust
Entomb’d
awhile remains,
Her spirit
bless’d in peace and rest
The heaven of
heavens contains.”
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Grave No. 15
Hannah … 18..:
“WARNED BY MY FATE BE EVER IN YOUR GUARD
LEST SUDDEN
DEATH SHOULD MEET YOU UNPREPARED
HEALTHY AND
STRONG THOUGH NO DANGER NEAR
A STRANGER
BOTH TO SICKNESS PAIN AND FEAR.”
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Grave No. 16
Elizabeth Scragg 1864:
“UNFADING LET HER MEMORY BLOOM,
WHILE RESTS
HER BODY IN THE TOMB,
NOR WILL THE
LORD, THE LOVE DISTRUST,
THAT STREWS ITS GARLANDS O’ER HER DUST.”
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Grave No. 17
John Lovatt 1879:
“DEATH LITTLE WARNING TO ME GAVE
BUT QUICKLEY
CALLED ME TO THE GRAVE,
MAKE HASTE TO
CHRIST MAKE NO DELAY
FOR NO ONE
KNOWS THEIR DYING DAY.”
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Grave No. 18
Ann Heath 1888:
“FAREWELL DEAR HUSBAND MY LIFE IS PAST
I LOVE YOU
WELL WHILE LIFE DID LAST,
BUT NOW FOR
ME NO SORROW TAKE,
BUT LOVE MY
CHILDREN FOR MY SAKE.”
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Grave No. 19
Charles Cope 1879:
“He rests from his labours, and his works do follow him.”
“And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which we have
loved since and lost awhile.”
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Grave No. 20
… … …:
“Remember this account is true
The Same
Event may Visit you
Then Still in
Mind the warning bear
The youngest
should for Death Prepare.”
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Grave No. 21
William Wilshaw 1862:
“Within this Grave a Social friend is laid
Who hath the
Common debt of nature paid,
When living
honest generous and kind;
Now dead a
loss to all friends left behind.”
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Grave No. 22
Enoch Mountford 1863:
“Thy voice is now silent thy heart is now cold
Where thy
smile and thy welcome oft met us of old
We miss thee
we loved thee in silence unseen
We dwell on
the memory of joys that have been.”
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Grave No. 23
Sharon Handcock 1873:
“HE’S CROWNED AND ROBED AND BLESS’T
TO HIM THE
PALM IS GIVEN;
ON EARTH HE
PANTED FOR HIS REST,
HE’S FOUND IT
NOW IN HEAVEN.”
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Grave No. 24
John Unwin 1873:
“OUR PARENTS DEAR ARE GONE, AND WE ARE LEFT,
THE LOSS OF
THEM TO MOURN,
BUT MAY WE
HOPE TO MEET AGAIN,
WITH CHRIST
BEFORE HIS THRONE.”
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Grave No. 25
Sarah Boulton 1862:
“To Daughter dear this stone I raise
Whose tender
care exceeds all praise
A record true
of a Parent’s love,
To here who
dwells with Christ above.”
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Grave No. 26
Charles & Mary Ann Rigby 1874:
“SHE IS WATCHING AT THE PORTAL, SHE IS WAITING AT THE DOOR
WAITING ONLY
FOR OUR COMING, FOR OUR DARLINGS GONE BEFORE.”
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Grave No. 27
Peggy Prince 1860:
“A good and loving wife A parent
Dear, She
hated fallsehoods mean
Disguise and
loved, a thing that’s just”
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Grave No. 28
Samuel Abbott 1861:
“This world is vain and full of pain
With cares
and troubles sore,
But they are
blest who are at rest
With Christ
for ever more.”
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Grave No. 29
Charlotte Dean 1874:
“SHE’S CROWNED AND ROB’D AND BLEST,
TO HER THE
PALM IS GIVEN,
ON EARTH SHE
PANTED FOR HER REST,
SHE’S FOUND
IT NOW IN HEAVEN”
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Grave No. 30
James Sargeant 1867:
“FAREWELL DEAR ONE WE TREAD THE SPOT,
WHERE THY
REMAINS LIE SLEEPING IN THE DUST,
BELOVED IN
LIFE NOR YET IN DEATH FORGOT,
AND WE MEET
AGAIN I DO HUMBLY TRUST.”
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Grave No. 31
Samuel Sargeant 1849:
“Death was no terror, or surprise to
him, for his
Lamp was trimmed,
and his Light
burning.”
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Grave No. 32
Samuel Unwin 1828:
“AN ANGEL TOOK MY FLOWERS AWAY,
THEN WHY
SHOULD I REPINE,
THAT JESUS IN
HIS BOSOM WEARS,
THE FLOWERS
THAT ONCE WERE MINE.”
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Grave No. 33
James Bullock 1854:
“Afflicted by our loss, we lay thee here
In silent
sorrow: e’en thy dust is dear;
For never
wife shall weep nor child bend,
O’er kinder
parent or more faithful friend.”
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Grave No. 34
Daniel Hall 1889:
“OUR BROTHER THE HAVEN HATH GAIN’D OUT-FLYING
THE TEMPEST
AND WIND,
HIS REST HE
HATH SOONER OBTAIN’D AND LEFT
HIS COMPANIONS
BEHIND”
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Grave No. 35
Aaron Sargeant 1875:
“DANGERS STAND THICK THROUGH ALL THE GROUND
TO PUSH US TO
THE TOMB
AND FIERCE
DISEASES WAIT AROUND
TO HURRY
MORTALS HOME.”
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Grave No. 36
Kate Goodwin 1856:
“Kind Angels guard her Sleeping dust,
Till Jesus
comes to call the just;
Then may she
awake with sweet surprise,
And in her
Saviours Image rise.”
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Grave No. 37
Thomas Cope 1835:
“Wife most dear pray be content,
Children for
me do not lament;
For death
must put lovers most kind,
And leave the
dearest friends behind.”
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Grave No. 38
Joseph Snape 1788:
“In humble voice peruse these warning stones
Ne’ermore
with thoughtless step on holy ground;
But heaven
Christians sigh o’er mould’ring Bones
And hope
departed souls have mercy found,
God’s
Sabbaths keep his Church in rev’rence hold,
By them
admission? Seek in Jesus’ Fold.”
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Grave No. 39
John Scragg 1841:
“In friendship steady in his dealings just
His only
study was to discharge his trust;
He lived
respected and lamented died,
Punctuality
was his only pride.”
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Grave No. 40
George Tomkinson 1914:
“I CAME TO JESUS AS I WAS
WEARY AND
WORN AND SAD;
I FOUND IN
HIM A RESTING PLACE:
AND HE HAS
MADE ME GLAD.:”
“”THY WILL BE
DONE””
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Grave No. 41
Alice Adams 1817:
“Tis not the whole of life to live, Nor all of death to die.”
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Grave No. 42
Hannah Bostock 1831:
“In love I liv’d in peace I did I craved life but god deny’d
My blooming
youth he would deface,
And send me
to a better place
Then dear
friends pay weep no more
I am not lost
but gon before.”
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Grave No. 43
Hugh Sherrat 1806:
“Here lies a honest inaffective friend,
Peaceable in
her Life and happy in her end,
Harmless in
her words and in her dealings just,
Firm to her
friend and upright in her trust.”
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Grave No. 44
William Steele 1863:
“A LIGHT FROM OUR HOUSEHOLD IS GONE,
A VOICE WE
LOVED IS STILLED,
A PLACE IS
VACANT AT OUR HEARTH,
WHICH NE’ER
CAN BE REFILLED.”
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Grave No. 45
Francis Mare 1783:
“Forbear my Friends to weep
Since Death
hath lost its sting
All those in
Christ doth sleep
Our God will
with him bring.”
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Grave No. 46
Nathan Jackson 1836:
“For as in Adam all die even so in Christ
Shall all be
made alive.”
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Grave No. 47
John Stansfield 1816:
“Time and
death shall
be no more”
"Time was I stood
as thou dost now to view the dead as
Thou dost me in time
thou’l lie as low as I and others
Stand and look on
thee"
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Grave No. 48
Richard & Ellen Leak 1779:
“Short was our time on Earth Longer is our rest
Prepare and
Live that ye may Die to Live Again
And Reign
with Christ Above the Skie.”
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Grave No. 49
Susannah Mollington? 1800:
“As I am now so you must be,
Prepare in
time to follow me.”
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Grave No. 50
George Mountford 1799:
“Afflictions sore Long time on Earth I bore
And
Physicians proved in vain,
Till God
pleas’d and Death did Ease me
of my pain.”
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Grave No. 51
Charlotte Bould 1865:
“THEIR TOILS ARE PAST THEIR WORK IS DONE,
AND THEY ARE
FULLY BLEST;
THEY FOUGHT
THE FIGHT THE VICTORY WON,
AND ENTERED
INTO REST;”
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Grave No. 52
Joseph Mould 1887:
“A FRIEND SO TRUE THERE WERE BUT FEW
AND DIFFICULT
TO FIND
A MAN MORE JUST
AND TRUE TO TRUST
THERE IS NOT
LEFT BEHIND.”
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An Example of St Bartholomew’s Church’s Grave Poetry
(Grave No. 50: George
Mountford 1799)
“Afflictions sore Long time on Earth I bore
And Physicians proved in vain,
Till God pleas’d and Death did Ease me
of my pain.”
Locations of Selected
Grave Poetry at
St Bartholomew’s Church,
Norton-le-Moors,
North Staffordshire
This Google Maps Satellite Imagery has
been reproduced under their fair usage policy.
“Imagery
©2024 Airbus, Maxar Technologies, Map data ©2024
(https://www.google.co.uk/maps/)”
Recommended Links:
We recommend
these two websites about St Bartholomew’s Church in Norton-le-Moors, North
Staffordshire:-
St Bartholomew’s Church Norton-le-Moors Website @
https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/4416/
Norton-le-Moors, North Staffordshire Wikipedia Entry @
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_le_Moors
We also
recommend this article about Freemason gravestones, at Stoke Minster, as well
as here, at Norton-le-Moors, Charles wrote:-
The
Devil’s Grave, A Masonic Epitaph, Charles E. S. Fairey, 2015 (Revised 2022) @
https://www.mysticmasque.com/history-mystery/the-devils-grave-a-masonic-epitaph
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