Valletta basement was burial ground

"Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar this evening produced pictures of human bones found beneath Valletta's Casa Lanfreducci, backing its claim that this had been a burial ground and should not be converted into changing rooms for the new open theatre on the Opera House site". 

Follow this link for the full story from "The Times of Malta"

Grab für Deutschen Soldaten



Photo : James Allan



Es gibt viele Gräber in Norfolk für Soldaten, die im zweiten Weltkrieg starben.  Jedoch, gibt es Gräber für deutsche Soldaten und einige Gräber sind im Dorf von Scottow. Dieses ist ein kleines Dorf auf der Hauptstraße von Norwich zum Norden.

Ich habe Informationen auf Denkmälern innerhalb der Kirchen für Englische Soldaten auf anderen Seiten zur Verfügung gestellt

Equality and the Church of England

 

"The truth will set you free"
 John 8:32

The Church of England is the state Church in England and has enormous privilege in society and associated wealth. For many people, the Church has been the centre of social gatherings and the centre of faith. Many people (although not everyone) have been baptised in the Church and lived their lives in the sacraments of the Church. The Church contains many 'closeted' gay and lesbian clergy and despite that constituency the Church has often been seen as indifferent to the needs of gay and lesbian worshippers. More recently, the Church has moved away from being vaguely 'indiffferent' and has actively attacked gay and lesbian people in the area of civil marriage. It seems that in response the English people  must now decide what to do about the traditional privilege of an organisation that has failed gay and lesbian people as well as simultaneously intruding into equality issues.

The  idea of the cemetery is, for me, bound up with the concept of ‘wholeness’ where we are all equal under the soil. The eternal certainty of death means that we are collectively brought together again in a sort of community.  Even people with few links are re-united by their burial in the same earth and all this process has been traditionally managed by the Established Church. The influence of the Church had been diminished over time by the provision of secular cemeteries, Dissenter burials and more recently by the appalling behaviour of the Established Church.

Instead of being the traditional centre of the community, the Church of England has begun to see itself not as a national organisation but as the representative of a small faction in society. You may ask what I am talking about. Well, the answer is ‘equal marriage’. In this matter, The Established Church through the actions of former Archbishop Carey has misjudged the British people and chosen to speak out against Civil Marriage equality. In this process, the Church has displayed poor assessment skills and a lack of national judgement and it has strayed from speaking on religious matters and chosen to speak negatively about civil matters.

In choosing to speak out so forcefully against equality, the Established Church and some senior clergy have confirmed one or two previously unproven facts. It was always suspected that the Church hierarchy in England was homophobic and that assertion now seems proven beyond all reasonable doubt. In effect, Christians really do hate gay and lesbian people and have finally chosen to 'come out' in their homophobia. There is now clear and unassailable evidence of an Anglican attempt to de-rail equality. The Church of England has finally nailed its homophobic colours to the mast and that may be the best that can be said for their judgement and bigotry. In the past, we had to imagine what was in the mind of the hierarchy and yet the intention of the Church is now as  clear as crystal. The Established Church really hates gays and lesbians and they especially hate the idea of the people having the opportunity to engage in permanent and lifelong commitments. To this end, the Church of England has associated itself with fringe Evangelicals and others who fight against equality. The Anglicans have even associated themselves with the Roman Catholic hierarchy often seen as a major critic of Anglican holy orders. The wish to deal the death blow to equal civil marriage has created strange bedfellows indeed. The Churches have elected to segregate themselves from the great body of their people and this is sad if not entirely unpredictable.

It seems then that the people must finally re-consider the 500 year old compact between the Church of England and the English people. The Church created through the efforts of Henry Tudor to betray his wife has, in effect, finally turned against  the English people who supported  this transitory organisation. What then to think about a national Church that pours forth venom on individuals who seek equality ? Well, it seems that we must start the process of asking why a Church is ‘Established’ in the first place? Why should we have a Church that uses its privilege against equality in such a poorly judged manner?

The position of the Church of England, as the Established Church has become untenable. It is inconceivable that unity can be encouraged by this diminishing and increasingly factional organisation. The unity so often espoused in the past is now out of the reach of the Church and the Church has become increasingly offensive to many English people.

A declining Christian denomination with few adherents (although with great wealth and resources) seeks to mock the aspirations of hard working people and this is in a country where the people are not particularly religious. The English increasingly seek diversity and equality in all things and it seems inappropriate to have an Established Church in the first place. It is arguably time for a change and  poorly judged Anglican views on equal marriage indicate that it is the correct time for the majority to think about the role of the Church.

I would say that through the homophobic comments of former Archbishop Carey  the Church of England has finally been found out. Let the Church confess its manifest sins against its own people, let them acknowledge how many Bishops and clergy are really Gay or lesbian and then let this relic of a former conflict slip away into history.

The motto of the Church of England is taken from John 8:32 and reads "The truth will set you free" It is time for the British (as a whole) to be at peace with each other in life as well as in death  and be set free from the shackels of all the Churches. Let this process begin with the dis-establishment of the Church of England.

Edwin Chadwick - "Practice of Interment in towns"

Detail:
Ashill Parish Church
© Godric Godricson

Edwin Chadwick's report on burials is a seminal work that influenced a generation of people in the area of burials.  He reported on a variety of issues relating to burials and some areas are a little 'icky' by the standards of the early 21st Century. For the next few weeks I want to add some snippet's from Chadwick's work which are illuminating and show how far removed our own views on death are compared to the 19th Century. Here is the first snippet.......

“Some years since a vault was opened in the church-yard (Stepney), and shortly after one of the coffins contained therein burst with so loud a report that hundreds flocked to the place to ascertain the cause. So intense was the poisonous nature of the effluvia arising there from, that a great number were attacked with sudden sickness and  fainting, many of whom were a considerable period before they recovered their health.”

From  : PRACTICE OF INTERMENT IN TOWNS EDWIN CHADWICK, (1843) p15

Isaiah 26:19



The cemetery
A.K.A "The Parish Church"

© Godric Godricson

 "But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead" Isaiah 26:19

There is something that strikes me when I visit an English Church and that is the proximity of the living and the dead. This proximity brings us back to the idea of Christianity being nothing more than a cult of the dead. In prayer, we cast our eyes upwards and we notice the plaques on the wall extolling the virtues of the departed. We notice the arms and titles of the great landowners and we are reminded that this building is often little more than a charnel house for the  rich and famous.

Indeed, if churchgoers  could develop x-ray vision or a personalised ground penetrating radar we would find the floor of any parish Church as a honeycomb of vaults and tombs fashioned from the 14th Century onwards. The vaults, full of humanity, would stretch as far as the eye can see. In this way we sense both the desire for salvation of past generations alongside their fear that God will seek revenge upon them. Regrettably, this mindset of fear and anxiety is not a modern way to design a building or lay out a cemetery.

The parish Church is a very real series of contradictions. On the surface,  the Church is an apparent place of  serenity and prayer and yet, underneath, there is nothing but death and decay. The line quoted above, drawn from Isaiah, is by 21st century standards a truly creepy statement. The quotation is saying something about the Church as being a 'parking lot' for the dead. The parish Church becomes a place where we are laid down like a fine wine awaiting the time when we rise again and 'pop' like a champagne bottle. The parish Church, rather than being a place of serenity, becomes the loci of a death cult where the living focus on nothing but death and dying. Oh dear, this theology of death seems far removed from the account of the Resurrection containing hope and joy. The cult of death is writ large in our society and the parish Church is the heart of the cult situated in most villages.

I am not convinced that the Church has anything very much to offer to a modernising society and the photograph above is a little charitable to the Church. When I visited the parish the Church had children's toys and games in the main areas. The altar had been moved into the main body of the Church from the east end. The children's toys was a sign that this ancient cult of the dead was striving for a sort of modernity and 'applicability'. However, the Church Authorities had missed the point. Rather than being open, inclusive and modern, the parish Church holds onto the  older ties to death whilst trying to support past errors by appearing 'modern'. The parish Church becomes a whited sepulchre rather than a focus for the community.

I understand the English and their sensibilities. The English easily fall down at the feet of 'tradition' and 'power' before they gently and quietly melt away  away to 'do their own thing'. That the Church has lasted so long in English culture is a testimony to the holding power of this cult of the dead. My greatest hope is that the 'cult of the dead' that passes for a state religion is left behind. Let the parish Church become a creche for the one or two children of the village if that is what the community really wants  although think about this......who would have a Creche in a cemetery?

Cremation

Cremation is a polluting activity

© Godric Godricson

The British are often pragmatic in nature and frequently elect to be cremated  rather than  to be buried. They perceive that cremation is ‘clean’ and there is a long tradition of cremation. The British  traditionally consider that cremation is better for the environment because the process takes up less physical space and the family don’t have to keep the headstone clean and tidy. In many ways, cremation appears a clean and tidy ‘once and for-all’ solution. For a predominantly Protestant country like Britain, largely unaware of  Catholic teaching, cremation appears a traditionally desirable process.

It's correct that cremated remains don’t take up the same amount of land  that burials require. However, the public do not consider that  the process of cremation releases huge volumes of air pollution and particulates into the atmosphere. I know that this idea of releasing material is a little ‘icky’ but let’s briefly consider what happens when a body is cremated.  When we place a body in the cremator we are placing a lot of material in there. In addition to human remains we are also adding 'wood', textiles and potentially a lot of embalming fluid and chemicals. That sounds very unhealthy as a combination. In effect, if a  human body plus the  coffin  weighs approximately  300 pounds and we are left with a final weight of 2 pounds in  ashes that means a lot of material has gone up the chimney as smoke . We have deliberately sent a lot of solid material up the chimney and created nothing but smoke and water vapour. How do we, on the one hand, believe that we love the departed and honour their memory and, on the other hand, consign them into the upper atmosphere for everyone on Earth to breath and ingest.

Most of the adverse chemicals released in the cremation are created from the foam held in rubber mattress, the polyester fabric of coffin linings, human clothing and the urethane finishes of the coffin itself. The composite 'wood' of conventional coffins is often comprised of fibreboard rather than ‘real’ wood and is held together by complex and polluting glue and oil based resins. We have heard from newspaper reports of the toxins and pollutants dispersed into the atmosphere through the chimneys and such pollutants are a fairly toxic cocktail of heavy metals, hydrogen chloride, dioxins and furans. The metal from our dental fillings are lethal . Crematoria are aware of this pollution and have doubtless taken care of the matter (as far as they can) with the use of filters  The effect of such attempts to contain pollution are probably quite patchy depending on efficiency and local circumstances.

I would suggest that the rise in ‘green burials’ and ‘woodland’ burials are an expression of a concern at the effects of cremation and the pollution that cremations cause. In effect, there can be no more energy efficient way of disposing of the dead than to  open up a grave and reverently place the body in there to await decomposition. Without embalming and using only natural fabrics, the body quickly returns to its constituent materials and soaks into the earth from which it came. So, much better than all that natural gas being consumed to transform a body largely comprised of water into gas and smoke.

If you consider that this article may be incorrect. I challenge people to stand close to a cremator and see what happens  when a funeral party has left the environment. The chamber is fired up and sooner or later there is that faint, vague and sweetish smell of burnt 'wood' in the atmosphere. It's a pleasant smell but one that betokens that the filters aren’t working.

Resurrectionists Great Yarmouth - 1827

"Great excitement was caused in Yarmouth by the discovery that upwards of twenty recently interred bodies had been removed from the churchyard by resurrection men.  “The churchyard was quickly crowded by the population.  Wives were searching for the remains of their deceased husbands, husbands for those of their wives, and parents for their children.”  Three men, Thomas Smith, alias Vaughan, William Barber, and Robert Barber, were apprehended, and committed for trial at Yarmouth Quarter Sessions, whence, on April 1st, 1828, the indictment was removed by writ of certiorari to the Court of King’s Bench.  The case was tried at Norwich Assizes, before Lord Chief Baron Alexander, on August 11th, 1828, when only Vaughan (or Smith) was proceeded against.  Robert Barker turned King’s evidence, and described the method by which the graves were robbed, and how the bodies were sent to London by the wain.  A verdict of guilty was returned, and on November 14th, 1828, the prisoner was brought up for sentence in the Court of King’s Bench.  He urged that he was driven by poverty to the commission of the offence, and was sentenced by Mr. Justice Bayley to six months’ imprisonment in the house of correction at Norwich."

Title: Norfolk Annals  A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 1     Author: Charles Mackie

William Chilvers Butters d. 2 October 1894

© Godric Godricson

For research on Butters see this link

Elizabeth Boyce d. 3 June 1870

" 

© Godric Godricson

“PURSUANT to a Decree of the High Court of Chancery,made in a cause Oldfield v. Boyce, the creditors of Elizabeth Boyce, late of Ashill, in the county of Norfolk, Widow (who died in or about the month of June, 1870), are, on or before the 18th day of May, 1872, to send by post, prepaid, to Henry Baxter Branwhite Mason, of Wereham (Dereham?) , in the county of Norfolk, Solicitor for the plaintiffs, Edmund Oldfield and Henry Oldfield, the executors of the said Elizabeth Boyce, deceased, their Christian and surnames, addresses and descriptions, the full particulars of their claims, a statement of their accounts, and the nature of the securities (if any) held by them, or in default thereof they will be peremptorily excluded from the benefit of the said Decree. Every creditor holding any security is to produce the same before the Master of the Rolls, at his chamber?, situate in the Rolls-yard, Chancery- lane, in the county of Middlesex, on Wednesday, the 31st day of May next, at half-past eleven o'clock in the forenoon, being the time appointed for adjudicating on the claims.—Dated this 12th day of April, 1872.”

War dead - Private George Butters

© Godric Godricson

Private George Butters M2/200614, M.T., Army Service Corps who died age 37 on 9 November 1918. Son of Richard and Mary Ann Butters, of Hale Rd., Ashill. ASHILL (ST NICHOLAS) CHURCHYARD

War dead - Corporal Frederick Cater

Corporal Fredeick Cater 5940, 2nd/6th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment who died age 23 on 19 July 1916. Son of James and Maria Cater, of 13, Ashill. LAVENTIE MILITARY CEMETERY, LA GORGUE The date of death is different on the cross and in the official record.  



© Godric Godricson

War dead - Machine Gun Officer Lieutenant KC Ford

Machine Gun Officer
Lieutenant KC Ford

"Machine Gun Officer Lieutenant KC Ford died of wounds received in Plogstrat Wood on the 1^st December 1915. This cross would have been placed above him in a temporary grave on the field which is why the cross has a large hole in the middle, obviously caused by ongoing gunfire. After proper reburial in due course such wooden crosses were sent home to the place which had once been the soldier’s home. "

"He was the son of Archdeacon the Venerable George Adam Ford and Ellen Isabella Ford of The Rectory, Ashill, Norfolk. He was born in Norwich and had been educated at Marlborough College"

St. Peter's Terrington - Norfolk

“The parish clerk of St. Peter’s, Terrington, has caused his coffin and gravestone to be prepared, although in excellent health.  The former he keeps in his sleeping room, and uses as a wardrobe, and the latter stands in the church, ready to be put down when required.  The stone contains the following:—

“This aged clerk, long ere he died,
His coffin had and placed by his bedside;
His neighbours all well know the truth is spoke—
’Twas made of Mr. John Perry’s best oak;
His old friend Death just touch’d him with his spear
And in pure kindness laid him quietly here.

“The upper part of the stone contains the name, with blanks for cutting age, &c., when the time of his dissolution shall take place.”


Title: Norfolk Annals  A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 1     Author: Charles Mackie

Saint Mary Magdalen - Pentney



Saint Mary Magdalen
Pentney

© Godric Godricson



Pentney is  a fine example of a traditional Norfolk graveyard attached to a functioning parish Church at the heart of the village.

The burial space is relatively small as befits the small nature of the village of Pentney which did not see the massive growth in population witnessed by towns in the 19^th Century. Without the pressure of considering public health the graveyard could remain largely unchanged and unaltered through time.

The graveyard surrounding the Church would  normally be consecrated after the 12^th Century and was established for the benefit of the village. Some parishes in Norfolk have a memory of fairs and events being held in the graveyard whilst others reference that the Rector had the right to graze his sheep in the graveyard. The Church at Pentney appears to have been doubled in length although the overall perception created is that this is a long thin Church without the benefit of height.



A long thin 14th Century Church

© Godric Godricson



The monuments around the Church are varied and have the anomalyy of containing modern inhumations or burials and older burials from the 19^th century. There is no evidence of truly ancient monuments although there will always be ancient burials in a Church of this antiquity. It goes without saying that all Churches of this period re-used grave space with there being no ‘in perpetuity’ arrangements. Each person would expect to be disinterred after a period of time to be replaced by neighbours and family in the village.

© Godric Godricson

The Church at Pentney contains some rather curious and beautiful monuments although the overall harmony of the older monuments is confused by modern granite and infilling between older graves. Interestingly, the newer ‘green’ tradition in burials in seen in Pentney where the field adjacent is being used for such burials. There is a tendency at pentney to use a technique that may be described as 'infilling' seen in urban planning where gardens are given over to new developments. In Pentney, apparently vacant graves are given over to newcomers with granite headstone created without art or style.



The dignity of railings

© Godric Godricson

 Old monuments do have 'something' about them both in their conception and execution and the older railings and brambles lend a somewhat distracted ambience to the cemetery. There is style in the monuments that is not echoed in the modern tradition.

Pentney is a lovely village and situated conveniently beside the A47.

Houghton On The Hill



Saint Mary
Houghton On The Hill

© Godric Godricson



Houghton on the Hill is a magical place and a palimpsest where we find medieval  architecture lying on top of Saxon buildings and all beside a Roman road in close proximity to a Roman Villa. The Church is almost the last building to survive in this largely deserted village.

For a gently undulating County like Norfolk, Houghton is an elevated position up on the hill and the views to the West are striking and amplified by the snow on a freezing cold day in February 2012. The silence on the hill is memorable and only broken by the call of wild pheasants. I have to acknowledge that on the day I visited a shooting party probably from a local estate were making a little noise and firing away with shotguns. Rural pursuits are still alive and well in Norfolk.



Multiple architectural styles

© Godric Godricson



The fabric of the Church dedicated to Saint Mary is well documented ‘on line’ and a simple search revels a wide range of learned documentation on the archaeology of the site and the history of the people associated with the Church. I am also aware that the Norfolk County record office may hold a wide range of records. There is no reason to repeat the work of other people[1] [2] and I suggest that you read the associated works which are revealing and fascinating.



Roman tiles
in the South Wall

© Godric Godricson



The cemetery is a wonderful place and it is the sort of site I mentioned at the start of this blog. Houghton is the sort of cemetery that set me on the path of exploring cemeteries and Churches. The Church and cemetery sit within the green land that is Norfolk. When I visited the Church and cemetery it was still covered with snow and looked for all the world like some sort of medieval fantasy. The Roman brick and tile set into the wall by medieval builders are magnificent and speak of a continuity that is profound and striking. I can only marvel at medieval man who by necessity hacked away Roman debris  from a ruined villa and carried it here to the hill to build the present Church. I wonder (without any evidence) whether or not we have a Roman temple under the Church as found in other parts of the world where later buildings conform to an earlier use.



18th century

© Godric Godricson



The cemetery is only separated from the wide open snow covered fields by a raised boundary of earth and stones and the footprints of wildlife make their way from the fields into the cemetery. The landscape has no real boundaries out here in the wilds  and we are very much in touch with nature. If we half close our eyes we can almost see the people who built the Church and indeed there is photographic evidence of a ghostly visitor who is well known to keep an eye on the place. I should say that the local Territorial Army keep an eye on the site and have been known to stage manoeuvres in this area at night and this military presence  gives the site an air of mystery and intrigue as imagine well armed camouflaged figures making their way through the night.

The building itself has a wide range of architectural styles although the cemetery itself has largely been robbed of its headstones or, more correctly, the headstones may not have been there in the first place. This was and is a lonely place and it may have been that burials were community events and largely without commemorations in stone. The few headstones that remain are largely mid 19^th Century although we do find 18^th Century headstones with their smiling putti looking down at the departed.

The small cemetery is unadorned except for the floor plan of earlier buildings which are laid out in the ground and this reminds us of earlier people and earlier epochs.



John Roope

© Godric Godricson



We find John Roper who died on 20 Jan 1848 aged 65 years with a headstone that proclaims  ‘Roope’ and his wife Ann Roper  who died just a little earlier on 31 Dec 1847 63 years. We can only wonder at the personal tragedy in this household. Interestingly, the International genealogical Index  (IGI) did not come up with  this parish on a simple search. Perhaps the Mormons haven't found the parish yet?

The Church and cemetery are well protected by people living nearby and by the Territorial Army who turn up without notice or encouragement. The Anglicans and Roman Catholics continue to hold services here in the wilds. From the Liturgy in Anglo-Saxon to Ecumenical gatherings the Church still proclaims its message.

Felmingham

© Godric Godricson

Cremation and electricity

Just to say that I came across this story relating to County Durham and cremation which is a new twist on the sad development of cremation as a means of disposing of the human body. We are now to be part of generating power. Even if the burning of the body does not itself  fuel electricity the heat from the furnace will fuel power generation.

The "Daily Mail" is a British newspaper with a tradition of supporting 'traditionalist' Governments and carried the story

 

John Coe (Norwich) 1839

"A person of eccentric character, named John Coe, of Chapel Street, Crook’s Place, Norwich, died on this date.  “For 34 years he was a trunk maker in St. Lawrence’.  Deceased had made his own coffin five years ago, of old soap chests and tea chests, and had polished it up so that it looked like mahogany.  It was composed of 165 pieces, and on the lid was a black plate, bearing a quotation from the Burial Service.  The deceased had also made a coffin for his wife, who survives him, but this had to be disposed of to inter the remains of a poor woman whose friends could not find the money to purchase one.”

Title: Norfolk Annals  A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 1     Author: Charles Mackie

Lexham

© Godric Godricson

Bryant Lewis - Thetford Epitaph

© Godric Godricson

On Bryant Lewis, who was barbarously murdered upon the heath near Thetford, Sept. 13, 1698.

"Fifteen wide wounds this stone veils from thine eyes,

But reader, hark their voice doth pierce the skies.

Vengeance, cried Abel’s blood against cursed Cain,

But better things spake Christ when he was slain.

Both, both, cries Lewis ’gainst his barbarous foes,

Blood, Lord, for blood, but save his soul from woe"

Title: Gleanings in Graveyards a collection of Curious Epitaphs Author: Horatio Edward Norfolk



Please also see a blog with a photo of the headstone of Bryant in Saint George's Church, Colegate, Norwich.  also   appears in British-History

Thomas Hancock - d. 9th December 1719

                                          

Thomas Hancock

Thomas Hancock by his will in 1717 gave, upon the decease of his wife and others, land in Reymerstone to Thomas Mason of Swaffham, grocer,' youngest son of testator's uncle John Mason of Necton.

Costessey Mills

"A singular story of a supposed murder was published.  A human skeleton was recovered from the bed of the river at Costessey Mills by a “didling” boat owned by Messrs. Culley.  The circumstance was recalled that a Jew pedlar, known as “Old Abraham,” had mysteriously disappeared eight years previously.  It was also remembered that one Robert Page, sentenced to transportation for life for sheep stealing at Drayton, on March 27th, 1834, had told the prison warders that if he were taken to Costessey he could show them, beneath a willow tree, “something that would make their hair stand on end.”  By a curious coincidence, the skeleton was found beneath a willow which overhung the river.  It was stated that the body had been staked down in the bed of the stream."

Title: Norfolk Annals  A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 1     Author: Charles Mackie

Roger Buston - Necton



Roger Buston

© Godric Godricson



George Walker



George Walker

© Godric Godricson



Saint Julian's Norwich - 1819

"A grave was opened under peculiar circumstances in St. Julian’s churchyard, Norwich.  A woman had died of small-pox, and was buried within 48 hours of her death.  It was suspected that she had been buried alive, and the rumour was circulated that groans had been heard proceeding from the grave.  On the body being exhumed a medical man pronounced life to be extinct."

Title: Norfolk Annals  A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 1     Author: Charles Mackie



Peeping out from
under a carpet

© Godric Godricson



Stephen Watson - West Bradenham

“About ten days back a starling’s nest, with young ones, was taken out of the breast of Watson, who hangs on a gibbet on Bradenham Common, near Swaffham, for the murder of his wife, which was witnessed by hundreds of people as something very singular and extraordinary.”

This is the same Stephen Watson found guilty for the murder of his wife. See 'Find a grave'

Title: Norfolk Annals  A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 1     Author: Charles Mackie