Sunday, 23 March 2014

Impressed villagers buy old lady...a grave

Mary Brookes' gravestone, Horton

Living to be 119 years old is a pretty outstanding thing to do - especially in the eighteenth century. Mary Brookes' fellow villagers in Horton (near Leek) seem to have been so astounded by this feat that they all clubbed together to buy this gravestone for her - "at their own expense to perpetuate this remarkable instance of longevity" - as is inscribed on the stone's face.

I suppose it was rather clever of her, at that.

This post was featured on the Cemetery Sunday website

2 comments:

  1. What an amazing find! The oldest person I have ever found was 106, however I do often wonder if they actually lived to that age or as they got older, just forgot how old they actually were.

    Thank you for linking up with Cemetery Sunday!

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  2. On a lot of old headstones you will find the benifators name in prominace not the departed. That was a nice touch you found there

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