Dicky Pearce Monument,About 7M North-East Of Phillips Monument In Churchyard Of Church Of St Mary The Virgin

ST 69 NE BERKELEY CHURCH LANE (Inset, Section E) (south side)

10/117 Dicky Pearce m.onument, about 7m north-east of Phillips Monument in churchyard of Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

GV II

Chest tomb, Dicky Pearce, died 1725. Limestone. Flat top in two layers, top layer with tooled edge, lower layer roll moulded. Tooled plinth and base in elongated octagon. Recessed arched panels on all faces, with coats of arms to east and west and inscriptions to north and south. The so-called "Jester's Tomb". Dicky Pearce was the Berkeley Court Jester killed in revelry at the Castle (q.v.) in 1725, although the tomb verse inscription gives the date of death wrongly as 1728. Inscription in capitals on north side as follows: "Here lies the Earl of Suffolk's fool/ Men call'd him Dicky Pearce;/ His folly serv'd to make folks laugh, /When wit and mirth were scarce./ Poor Dick Alas! is dead and gone./ What signifies to cry?/ Dickys enough are still behind/ To laugh at by and by./ Buried XVIII June MDCC XXVIII/ Aged LXIII years."

Listing NGR: ST6848399076