Group Of 5 C18 Headstones Approximately 11 Metres South Of The Tower Of The Church Of St Mary The Virgin

This is a group of five 18th-century headstones located approximately 11 meters south of the tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin. The headstones date from 1711 to 1782 and are made of upright sandstone slabs, ranging in height from 400 millimeters to 1.3 meters. Each headstone features curvilinear shaped heads, with some being double-headed.

Two of the headstones commemorate members of the Wagon family. The smallest headstone has a moulded frame, and its head is inscribed with an hourglass among scrolls. The inscription, written in somewhat calligraphic Roman serif upper and lower case lettering, records the death of 16-year-old Samuel Wagon in 1711. Another double-headed headstone is carved with profiled busts of Roman emperors in front of crossed trumpets. It has a sunken panel below, framed and inscribed in Roman serif upper and lower case lettering, commemorating another Samuel Wagon who died in 1738.

Nearby, there is a similar double-headed headstone in memory of George Morley, who died in 1740. Another single-headed stone features a sunken front panel with the head carved with crossed arrows, commemorating William Martin, who died in 1737. The latest headstone in the group has a head carved with a winged cherub and crossed trumpet and torch. The first word of its inscription is in ornate Gothic lettering, while the rest is in Roman serif upper and lower case lettering, recording the death of John Jenner in 1782 and including an obituary poem.