The rediscovered Weston headstone
The newly appeared headstone outside Epsom’s now-closed URC.
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2024
When, in 2020, I wrote about the United Reformed Church in Epsom’s Church Street, I noted that headstones from the burial ground of its predecessor chapel had, for many years, been lined up by the boundary wall with The Epsom Club. All but this one were moved from there in the early 1990s when a large section of that boundary wall became dangerous and had to be rebuilt.
This one was not moved because, as shown in the photograph the left below, it had been thoroughly bricked in – perhaps as part of the early 1960s work of repairing and extending the fire-damaged church. Presumably in preparation for redevelopment of the now-closed church, the headstone has recently been released from its prison (and, as can be seen, the brickwork on the pillar made good).
The boundary wall and headstone in 2022 (left) and 2024 (right).
2022 photograph courtesy of Bourne Hall and 2024 photograph by Roger Morgan
All the now lost headstones’ details had been recorded in 1963 by the Nonsuch Antiquarian Society (now the Epsom & Ewell History & Archaeology Society), and the transcriptions are available at this link. Those 1963 recorders were, however, stymied by what they designated headstone C1, noting that it was “Behind pier and completely obscured”.
On walking up Church Street recently, I was surprised to see the headstone now propped against that boundary wall. The distinctive top strongly indicates that it is the unrecorded C1, and that is absolutely confirmed by records that have been found of at least some of these Westons (none of whom is mentioned in the 1963 record) being buried at the nonconformist Church Street Chapel.
The headstone pictured above begins with the words “Also of . . .” indicating that there was earlier material on the other side – and that is the case. The headstone was far too heavy for me to be able to turn it round. However, I was able to push it upright and take the following (inevitably foreshortened) photographs of the side – its original front – facing the wall.
Views of the other side of the headstone.
Photographs by Roger Morgan © 2024
Having examined all these photographs at far higher resolution than reproduced here, I have been able to transcribe the inscriptions as below. (The lettering on both sides is quite deeply carved and has been enhanced – most obviously on what was the back – by some white finish with the lettering picked out in black.)
On what was the front, the text is:-
In Memory
of MARY ANN WESTON
who died 16th of Febry 1829
aged 26 years
Also of MARY ANN WESTON
who died 22nd of April 1829
Aged 2 Years
Also of ANN WESTON
who died 26th of May 1829
Aged 65 Years
Also of GEORGE WESTON
who died 13th of Jan . . .
. . .
As can be seen on the photograph above, the surface of the headstone has flaked off towards the bottom. I have, however, found the record of George Weston’s burial at the Church Street Chapel which records that he was buried on 13 January 1834, having died at the age of 71. (It seems unlikely that he was buried on the same day that he died, so one of the dates may be a few days out.) There are indications of another inscription below that of George Weston – perhaps of his wife (who seems likely to have been another Martha), but surface damage has made this indecipherable.
The inscriptions on what was the back are:
Also of JOHN WESTON
who died 16TH of NovR 1844
Aged 48 Years.
Also MARTHA WESTON
Wife of the above
who died 8th March 1846
Aged 35 Years.
Also MARTHA WESTON
Sister of the above
who died 10th Decr 1846
Aged 41 years.
The first national Census was in 1841, and this records John Weston (“Painter”) – the first mentioned on the back of the headstone – in New Inn Lane (today’s Dorking Road), together with:
Martha (30)
Sarah (12)
Thomas (8)
Alfred (7)
Martha (30)
The ordering here suggests that the first Martha is John’s wife and the second (at the end of the list) is his sister, both as named below him on the headstone. Sarah, Thomas and Alfred are presumably John and the first Martha’s children. That Martha was, however, John’s second wife – although I have not been able to trace their marriage.
John’s first wife was Mary Ann (née Scaith) – the first mentioned on what was the front of the headstone. The couple had married on 23 August 1824 in the church of St Giles, Ashtead. (As both were “of Epsom”, their wedding would normally have been in St Martin of Tours, but that was out of action during the 1824-25 rebuild.) As noted in the register entry below, the witnesses were George Weston, Martha Weston & Luke Richardson – where George seem certain to be be John’s father and Martha more likely to be his mother than his sister.
The Register entry of John Weston’s 1824 marriage to Mary Ann Scaith.
John and Mary Ann’s first child would appear to have been the 2 year old Mary Ann who, as noted as the second entry on the headstone, died in April 1829 – two months after her mother’s death in February 1829, the first name on the headstone.
It appears that John and second wife Martha had a daughter in 1836 – another Martha. There is a St Martin’s record of the 6 January 1837 baptism of “Martha WESTON, Daughter of John & Martha, Epsom, Painters & Glazier“. She is not, however, recorded in the 1841 Census (when she would have been about 5) nor can I find any record of her death.
So one mystery is solved – but, as not uncommon, with the solution creating others!
Roger Morgan © 2024