DENTON LINCOLNSHIRE

CHURCH OF ST ANDREW

Church Post Code NG32 1LG

There were three Vale of Belvoir Angel gravestones recorded here in the Heathcote study. I saw two; the one that I missed apparently being out of the ground and leaning against a wall when they visited in 1976. I revisited and double checked and saw no sign of this third stone.

'Memento Mori' is carved across the top of the stone to Thomas Read; remember death. The hour glass below also proclaims that Man is mortal and will die. The hour glass is normally used in conjunction with crossed bones but the latter is absent here.

The stone is inscribed 'Here lies the body of Thomas Read who departed this life Nov ye 11th 1720 aged 75 years'

Below, it reads 'All flesh is like the withering hay it springs it grows it fades away'

Whilst not a direct Biblical verse, this may have been inspired by I Peter Chapter 1 verse 24 which says

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:”

The second stone recorded here is a double angel stone; with the angels being of a normal design but set out in a 'variant' style.

The two angels are to be found set at an angle top left and right, with their wings framing the top of a roundel in which are the details of the husband and wife who are commemorated here.

Just below the tip of the wing of the angel on the left hand side of the stone as we look at it is an hour glass; the right hand side of the stone is partially obscured by the neighbouring gravestone which has hidden where the possible corresponding crossed bones might have been set.

'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord' is carved around the top corners of the stone.

This one reads 'Here lyeth interr'd the body of Wilm Leeson who departed this life January 22nd 1700 in the 55 year of his age'

'Also Margret his wife died April ye 25th 1721 ages 62 years'.

The stone that was recorded in the Heathcote study was recorded as saying 'Here lyeth the body of Thomas Wollis he died December 26th `1710 in the 37th year of his age'