MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS
OF
O V E R S T O W E Y
S O M E R S E T
247 memorials, 1619 - 2010
Queries checked with Parish Registers 1558 – 1654, 1686 – 1747 & 1777 - 1932, at Somerset Heritage Centre (the Cemetery has it’s own separate registers, which have not been deposited there).
Recorded, typed and indexed by Sir Mervyn Medlycott, 2016 (incorporating copies by Edmund Rack, c1782-6, John Collinson, 1791 and Timothy Whittingham, 2000).
copies to: Somerset & Dorset Family History Society (MI Index. Electronic copy only).
Somerset & Dorset Family History Society (Library).
Somerset Heritage Centre, Taunton.
Society of Genealogists Library, London.
Incumbent and PCC of Over Stowey.
Timothy Whittingham (with CD).
Sir Mervyn Medlycott.
OVER STOWEY MIs: SURNAME INDEX (numbers of memorials, not pages)
ABEL: CM42
ACKLAND: CM89, CM90
ADAMS: W15 & CM28
AMORY: IN5
ANDERSON: IN11
APPLEBY: CM26
ASHILL: S07
BALDWIN: CM100
BARING: IN8 & IN9
BARROW: W11b, CM48 & CM50
BEER: CM16
BIFFIN (Biffen): CM21 & CM110
BINDING: CM112
BLAKE: IN21 & IN34
BLINMAN: W15
BOSLEY: CM143
BOUSIE: E21 & CM14
BRIFFETT: CM41
BROCK: E19
BROWN: IN17
BROWNING: CM41
BULLER: E05, E06, E07, E08 & IN1
BURNETT: CM133
BURROWS: CM37
CAVILL: CM18 & CM38
CHEDGEY: W03
CHILCOTT: CM58
CLITSOME: CM104
COMBER: S06 & S07
COOK: CM62 & CM63
COUSINS: CM109
COX: CM29
CRAWFORD: IN10 & IN29
CRIDDLE: E32
CULVERWELL: CM138
DAVIS: CM24 & CM83
DENMARK: IN24
DOBLE: CM88
DODWELL: IN31
DRAKE: IN15
DUBIN: CM92-CM95
DYER: E02, E31 & S17
ELLIS: IN5
ELWES: CM1
FITZ-OWEN: CM45
GAMBLE: CM55 & CM111
GARDNER: CM84
GARRAWAY: CM52
GRANDFIELD: IN14, IN17, CM8, CM9, CM11 & CM121-CM123
GRICE: CM118 & CM119
GUERIN SOLBE: CM49 & CM51
GLADDY: CM107
GULLICK: CM44
HAM: CM68
HARE: CM131
HARRIS: CM71 & CM74
HARRISON: IN17
HASTE: W10 & CM99
HECTOR: CM82
HELLIER: E10-E15
HEMMONS: CM17
HILL: S18, CM70, CM103 & CM126
HIPPERSON: CM87
HITCHINS: CM16
HOLLAND: IN31
HORSENALL: W01
HOWARD: IN20
HUGHES: IN14, CM54 & CM117
HUNT: E09, W02, W04-W06 & CM139
HURMAN: CM27
JONES: E01, E30, CM105 & CM124
JOWETT: CM60
KER: CM111
KNIGHT: S08, CM98 & CM101
LABOUCHERE: W01, IN8, IN9, IN23, IN25, IN26, IN29 & IN32
LANDSEY: E23, S05 & S11
LANSDOWN(E): E03 & E04
LEWIS: IN15
LOVELL: CM27
MARTYN: IN7, IN14 & CM73
MATCHETT: CM56
MOGG: E25 & CM23
MORLE: E29, S13, S14 & S16
MOWER: CM96
NEWBERY: CM65
OLIVER: W15
PALMER: E28, S10, W11, CM10, CM12, CM13, CM15, CM19, CM57, CM64, CM79 & CM91
PARISH: W09
PAYNE: CM61 & CM102
OVER STOWEY MIs: Surname Index
(continued)
PERRY: CM15
PHILLIPS: IN17 & CM22
POOLE: W14
PORTER: W15
POTTER: CM97
PURSEY: CM100
RAVENSBERG: CM26
REID: CM34 & CM35
RHODES: CM11
RICH: E16-E18, E20, E22, S01-S04, S09, W15, IN17, IN22, IN30, IN34 & CM78
ROBERTSON: IN28, CM36 & CM108
SALVAGE: CM59 & CM77
SAUNDERS: CM46 & CM47
SAYER: CM130
SEALE: CM67
SEALY: IN15
SELLICK (Selleck): E27, IN18, CM16
& CM140-CM142
SHEPHERD: CM43
SHEPPARD: IN16
SHERRAN: CM132
SLOCOMBE: CM39 & CM136
SMITH: CM106
STANBURY: CM76
STANDFAST: E15
STANLEY: E06a, IN2, IN3, IN5, IN6, IN13, IN27, IN33 & CM35
STONE: CM75
STRITFOLD: W15
SULLY: W04
SUMMERS: CM20 & CM81
SUTTON: CM34
SWAYNE: CM53
SWEET-ESCOTT: CM115
TIPLINE: W15
TITE: W11a
TRAPNELL: CM31, CM134 & CM135
TROUT: IN17, CM72 & CM129
TUCKER: CM80 & CM113
VENN: W08 & CM33
VERNCOMB: E26
VEYSEY: CM120
VILLIS: CM69 & CM116
WALFORD: CM125 & CM127
WALSHE: IN19
WALTON: E24
WARD: W13, IN4, IN12 & CM2-CM7
WARE: CM137
WASHER: S19
WEBBER: CM25, CM32 & CM40
WELSHE: IN19
WESTCOTT: CM30
WHITLEY: CM114
WICKHAM: IN35
WILKINS: CM85, CM86 & CM128
WILSON: CM66
5
OVER STOWEY Churchyard Monumental Inscriptions
(Exact wording is given for all memorials, which are in double inverted commas, in most instances with obliques '/' indicating the ends of lines). As is my standard practice, memorials entirely post-dating 1980 have been omitted.
In 2000 Timothy Whittingham, of Moorings, Over Stowey, compiled copies of inscriptions on memorials in Over Stowey churchyard and he produced a splendid plan showing where these memorials were located. Copies of his compilation were deposited in the church and with the Somerset & Dorset Family History Society, but nowhere else, not even in the Somerset Record Office (now known as the Somerset Heritage Centre). In 2016 the need for me to copy memorials inside Over Stowey church and at Over Stowey Cemetery, which Mr: Whittingham did not do, led me to check and revise his compilation of Over Stowey churchyard.
I found his copies were, in most instances, very good and accurate, but I was able to make some corrections and copied three memorials which he had difficulties deciphering, E01, S05 and W13. He had no knowledge of the standard terminology for memorial types, describing as “horizontal stone” what were mainly coped stones, although one was a chest tomb, another a kerb to a headstone and another a large flat ledger stone. Some he gave as “headstone” were clearly footstones and four were crosses.
One memorial he recorded, E32, has vanished since 2000 and three, E26, E30 and E31 have been moved from where they were shown on the plan. This clearly happened when the village hall was extended in about 2012 along part of the eastern boundary of the churchyard. Three were successfully moved, but I suspect E32 broke up into pieces and was discarded. This is sad, as it was one of only two 18th century memorials then surviving in the churchyard.
I have added three memorials which Timothy Whittingham did not number (the first he gave without any number, the other two he omitted), which I have given the numbers E06a, W11a and W11b. Also I have given, at the end, as W14 and W15, some, now vanished, inscriptions recorded by Edmund Rack at Over Stowey in his c1782-6 “Survey of Somerset”, although we don’t actually know where in the churchyard they were originally located.
As Timothy Whittingham has used code letters with sequences of numbers for three portions of the churchyard, I have, in conformity, done the same for Over Stowey church interior (as “IN” with numbers) and Over Stowey Cemetery (as “CM” with numbers), which follow later in this compilation.
CHURCHYARD
E01). Coped Stone (just verses on north slope). On south slope: “Sacred to the memory of / Robert JONES, born in this parish / for 33 years a resident at Demerara, British Guiana / who departed this life at Staplegrove, nr. Taunton, in this county / May 12th 1859, aged 55 years”.
E02). Coped Stone (south slope is blank). On north slope: “In memory of / William DYER, who departed this life June 23, 1880 / aged 87 years”.
E03). Headstone and kerb. “George Edmund LANSDOWNE, J.P. / born Nov: 11th 1853 / died Aug: 29th 1930 / Elsie Emma Lansdowne / born July 3rd 1875 / died Nov: 9th 1943”.
E04). Headstone and Coped Stone. On south slope of coped stone: “In affectionate remembrance of / Mary / the beloved wife of George LANSDOWN, of this parish / who died March 4, 1872, aged 57 years”. On north slope of coped stone: “Also in fond memory of / George Lansdown / who died May 18, 1874, aged 58 years”. On headstone: “Also in memory of / Henry / son of George and / Mary Lansdown / who fell asleep in Jesus / July 30, 1875, aged 34 years / Also in memory of / Aquila / son of George and Mary Lansdown / born July 11, 1843, died Oct: 4, 1894”.
E05). Headstone (surmounted by a cross). “Edith Frances BULLER / fell asleep Sep: 26, A.D. 1876 / aged 33 years”.
E06). Headstone (surmounted by a cross). “Jane Ruscombe BULLER / fell asleep / April 21, A.D. 1872 / aged 23 years”.
E06a). This memorial is not numbered, but is the large cross on octagonal base, marked on the plan as being close to E06. “To the dear memory of / Henry STANLEY / eldest son of Edward & Mary Stanley / of Quantock Lodge / in this parish / Lieutenant / in the West / Somerset / Yeomanry / & the XXVth Company / Imperial Yeomanry / who fell in action / at Hekpoort / South Africa / on the XVIth of / September MCM / aged XXVII (ie.16 Sept 1900, aged 27) / and was laid / to rest / near the field / of battle”.
E07). Cross. “Robert / Beadon BULLER / born January 1, 1846 / died July 17, 1865”.
E08). Coped Stone (inscription on ledge around the edge, with some damage, hence queries). “To the memory of the Reverend William Beadon BULLER, M?.A. / 35 years Vicar of this / parish, who died on the …ing (either morning or evening) of St. Stephen’s Day (26 Dec) 1855, aged 50”.
E09). Cross. On west side: “In loving memory / of / George HUNT / of this parish / who fell asleep / January 31, 1874 / aged 70 years”. On south side (worn): “Charlotte / …(wife?) of George Hunt / …(died J)une 17, 1876 / aged 68 years” (PR: “Charlotte Hunt” buried 22 June 1876).
E10 and E11). Small Headstone and Footstone to the same person. “L.H. / 1858” (clearly “Lucy HELLIER” given on E15).
E12 and E13). Small Headstone and Footstone to the same person. “H.W.H. / 1880” (clearly “Hannah Warford HELLIER” given on E15).
E14 and E15). Headstone and Footstone. On headstone E15: “In memory of / William HELLIER / who died at Poundsford Park / April 16th 1860, aged 63 / Also Lucy, his daughter / who died Decr: 28th 1858, aged 12 / Also Hannah Warford / relict of the above named / William Hellier / who died Sepr: 10th 1880, aged 74 / Mary Jane STANDFAST / eldest daughter of the above / William Hellier / who died Sepr: 10th 1882, aged 46? (worn)” (PR: Mary Jane Standfast wasn’t buried here). On footstone E14: “W.H. / 1860”.
E16). Coped Stone. On south slope: “In memory of / Thomas RICH, of Cross Cottage, Over Stowey / who died April 17, 1875, aged 73 years”. On north slope: “Also in memory of / Ann, wife of Thomas Rich / who died November 22, 1861 / aged 59 years”.
E17 and E18). Small Headstone and Footstone to the same person “A.R. / 1861” (clearly “Ann RICH” given on E16).
E19). Headstone. “In memory of / Ann BROCK / widow of the late W. BROCK / of Stoke Poges, Bucks / who died at Quantock Lodge / on the 2 of May 1872”.
E20). Coped Stone. On south slope: “In memory of / Ann / the beloved wife of Samuel RICH, of this parish / who entered into her rest Aug: 17, 1864, aged 64 years”. On north slope: “Also in loving memory of / Samuel Rich / who fell asleep in Jesus February 2, 1886, aged 93 years”.
E21). Small Headstone. “Thomas Louis BOUSIE / died 19th Novr: 1867 / aged 12 years”.
E22). Headstone and Coped Stone. On south slope of coped stone: “In loving memory of / Sarah Ann RICH, of Cross House, Over Stowey / who peacefully fell asleep 30th December 1892 / aged 52 years”. On north slope of coped stone: “Also of Samuel Rich, of Cross House, Over Stowey / who passed peacefully away June 30th 1912, aged 74 years”. On headstone: “In / loving memory of / Samuel Rich / son of Samuel and / Mary A.A. Rich / of Cross Farm / who fell in the Great War / in France, April 1918 / aged 19 years / Also of / Mary A.A. Rich / wife of Samuel Rich / and mother of the above / who departed this life / Sep: 8th 1923, aged 65 years”.
E23). Headstone. “In memory of / Thomas LANDSEY / late of the parish of / Nether Stowey / who departed this life / the 13th of January 1802 / aged 72 years”.
E24). Headstone. “In / fond memory of / Sarah / the widow of / Silvester WALTON / of Staindrop in the Co: / of Durham / who died at Over Stowey / Dec: 13, 1879, aged 82 years” (in between E24 and E25 there is a large flat ledger stone not marked on the plan, but it is illegible).
E25). Headstone. “In memory of / Avis / the beloved wife of Anthony MOGG / who died January 8, 1874 / aged 77 years / Also Anthony, husband / of the above, who died 8 August / 1888, aged 88”.
E26). Displaced Headstone, leaning against east boundary wall (moved to close to E29 since the plan was made). “Here lieth the / body of Hugh / VERNCOMB, who was / buried Feb: 28th 1718”.
E27). Displaced Headstone, leaning against east boundary wall. “In / memory / of / Charles Davey SELLICK / a singer of the sanctuary / fell asleep / March 22, A.D. 1872, aged 27 years / Also James Sellick, father of the / above, born 1806, died 1862”.
E28). Displaced Headstone, leaning against east boundary wall. “In memory of / Mary PALMER / who died Dec: 19, 1876”.
E29). Displaced Footstone, leaning against east boundary wall. “J.M. / 1835” (PR: clearly “John MORLE” buried 24 Oct 1835, aged 51).
E30). Displaced Headstone, leaning against east boundary wall (moved to close to E29 since the plan was made). “Sacred / to the memory of / Ann JONES / who departed this life October 1, 1855 / aged 49 years”.
E31). Footstone lying on the ground face-upwards (moved to close to E23 since the plan was made). “P.D. / 1860” (clearly “Phebe DYER” given on S17).
E32). Headstone (vanished since the plan was made). “In memory / of John CRIDDLE / of this parish / who departed / this life the 15th of April 1759 / in the 54th year of his age / Also in memory of / Jane Criddle, wife of / the above John Criddle / who departed this life / 22 of September 17-9 / aged 74” (PR: “Jane Criddle” buried 26 Sept 1789; gap in PR: 1747-77).