Slaithwaite Notes: Past and Present (1905) - Chapter LXV

Publicdomain.large.png
PUBLIC DOMAIN DEDICATION
The following is made available free of any copyright restrictions (more info).
The following is a transcription of a historic book and may contain occasional small errors.

Chapter LXV. Robert Meeke's Tomb

It is not generally known, even by old Slaithwaite residents, that the tombstone of the Rev. Robert Meeke, of blessed memory, one-time curate of this parish, stands within a few feet of a public thoroughfare. The road leading from Market Place to the Dartmouth Arms is said to pass immediately over the grave of the devoted vicar and quaint diarist.

In the south-east corner of the burial ground is to be seen a somewhat ornate tombstone, bearing this inscription: —

“Near this Place is Interred the Body of
Mr. Robert Meeke,
Who was Curate of this Chappel
39 Years and 5 Months,
To ye Satisfaction of his Auditors.
He left £4 per annum to ye School of Slaithwaite
For Teaching 10 Poor Children,
And ye Interest on £9 for Bread and Wine,
And 133 Books for ye Use of Succeeding Curates.
He departed this Life May 31st, 1724, in the
67th Year of his Age.”

The tombstone is in a wonderfully fine state of preservation, and the ornamentation is perfect in every detail. The last line of the inscription is almost on a level with the ground, and the stone cannot be read without removing the creepers that threaten to obscure it altogether.

Some years ago, when the local authority widened the road, they reverently spared this grave by placing over it an iron beam to keep it intact.



Slaithwaite Notes: Past and Present (1905) by John Sugden