Thursday, 2 February 2012

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

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