CROXTON KERRIAL

CHURCH OF ST BOTOLPH & ST JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Church Post Code NG32 1QP

There is one Vale of Belvoir Angel gravestone in the church grounds at Croxton Kerrial. To be fair it is not the easiest to find.

It is to be found at the west end of the grounds, leaning over at an improbable angle, with some very faded text on the reverse side.

The skull and crossed bones remind the onlooker that Man is mortal and will die. The details on the gravestone are really difficult to make out due to the angle of the stone leaning.

The Heathcote's though were able to note the inscription though, which reads as follows...

'Here lies the bodys of William Hallan and Margarett his wife William departed this life August ye 21st 1719 aged 75 years Margarett departed this life August ye 13th 1719 aged 75 years

Probably a lifetime together and the two passed on within eight days of each other. Disease or a broken heart? No way of telling.

This couple would have been born a few years after the end of the English Civil War and they would have lived through the bubonic plague as it hit the country during the 1660's. What hard times they lived through.

Anyone visiting here might also care to take a look at a wall monument on the exterior east wall of the chancel. This monument is dated to 1711 and also features an angel design; this one though doesn't wear a ruff and is not in slate so it would not be included in any listing.