Quite
simply, it points the finger at a murderer – the murderer of the woman in the
grave.
From death, Sarah Smith accuses the
perpetrator of the foul deed against her:
“It was C-----s B----w / That brought me to my end. /
Dear parents, mourn not for me / For God will stand my friend. /
With half a Pint of Poyson / He came to visit me. /
Write this on my Grave / That all that read it may see.”
“It was C-----s B----w / That brought me to my end. /
Dear parents, mourn not for me / For God will stand my friend. /
With half a Pint of Poyson / He came to visit me. /
Write this on my Grave / That all that read it may see.”
Whether
Sarah dictated this before she died (in 1763), or her angry parents had it
inscribed, who knows? She was just 21 years old.
It’s believed that C…s B…w was never hauled up before the law - despite this indictment.
It’s believed that C…s B…w was never hauled up before the law - despite this indictment.
This post was featured on the Cemetery Sunday website
Wow. What an amazing find. Odd that the full name is censored. Do you think Sarah's parents did that or the cemetery/churchyard?
ReplyDeleteI suspect his first name was Charles.
Thank you for linking up with Cemetery Sunday
This is so curious .... and fascinating. Makes me wonder who this person was (that she didn't give the full name of), and who Sarah Smith was. What a great find -- thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletei live about 500 yards from this cemetery and never seen this, will have to try and find it.
ReplyDeleteI live in Wolstanton and have visited the grave many times. The accused is believed to be Charles Barlow and there is much speculation as to the relationship he held with Sarah Smith but the most widely held belief is that he fathered her child and then killed her to hide it! Sadly the baby girl also died a short time after her mother. I remember seeing that the grave inspired a local girl to write a short story about Sarah Smith which won the first prize in our first ever annual literary festival in 2014.
ReplyDeleteThat is really helpful... And is the story about Sarah to be found anywhere on the internet? It would be interesting to read it.
DeleteThe story can be found at the following link.
Deletehttp://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/write-Stoke-winners-18s/story-21243579-detail/story.html
It was a Sentinel run competition and the story was published in the paper (along with the other shortlisted finalists) just before the Literary Event took place. I know that a man named Jeremy Crick did a lot of research on the grave and the church sells copies of it.