S. ANDREW'S CHURCH, SONNING. XIV. Our Churchyard deservedly attracts almost as much attention as the Church, and these notices would be very incomplete without some account of the changes and alterations which it has undergone. I can well remember being much concerned at the forlorn and neglected state of the Churchyard when I first saw it It struck me the more because I had just come from a parish where the Church and Churchyard were kept in the most perfect order. In 1842, the fences round three sides of the Churchyard were in a ruinous condition, the grass was only kept down by a flock of sheep turned in from time to time to feed on it; there were no shrubs of any kind, and the prevailing form of monument was the common rail painted white, which has now, fortunately, almost disappeared. now. At this time the Churchyard was considerably smaller than it is A low wooden fence ran from the corner of the Park wall by the yew tree to the present boundary (then a broken paling,) opposite the Bull Inn. The principal gate, standing where the present entrance is, was a very mean one, and close by it was an open ditch, for the stream which ran through the Churchyard and Vicarage garden down to the river. Above this ditch was another wooden paling against the Deanery garden. When we determined to begin improvements in the Churchyard, the first thing was to construct a large barrel drain for the stream, straight to the river. The path, which had before been on the side of the elm trees nearest the Church, was now carried to its present position on the farther side, and the brick wall along the Deanery garden was built. At the same time, 1858, Mr. Palmer kindly granted as an addition to the Churchyard, a part of Bone Orchard, and the present brick wall, enclosing this and the rest of the Churchyard up to the Deanery garden was then built. The gates, four in number, all of oak, and of massive design, were also added. The expense of these improvements, it need not be said, was very heavy indeed. It was partly met by a general subscription of the parishioners, but the main share was borne by Mr. Palmer and his family. There is no reason to suppose that Bone Orchard formed any part of the original Churchyard, but strange to say, we have found in several parts of the portion now taken in, quantities of human skulls and bones, as well as the bones of animals. In one place the skulls were lying so closely packed together, that it was quite impossible they should have been regularly interred. The bodies must either have been thrown in after some battle, or the bones have been collected from the Church or Churchyard. The name, Bone Orchard, evidently suggests that it has been a burying place at some time, and it is of course possible that it may have been a battle-field in Saxon days. One can hardly think that the Church or Churchyard could ever have been so full of bones, as to make their removal necessary to this place. No light, it may be feared, will ever be thrown upon this point now. The new piece of ground was consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford, on Sunday afternoon, May 15th, 1859, in the presence of a large assembly of the parishioners, and he preached, and afterwards addressed the congregation in the Churchyard, with his usual impressive eloquence. To be continued. H. P. THE HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN, Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury, London, W.C. June 13th, 1870. SIR,-In the Sonning Parish Magazine, a few months ago, you kindly permitted me to return our acknowledgments for a gift to this Hospital, from your Parish. May I again beg the favour of a corner in the Magazine, in which to express our cordial thanks for the second kind present that your readers have sent to our Hospital. The parcel containing clothing and toys, was duly received, and by the time that this number of the Magazine will be in the hands of the donors, the various articles will have found grateful recipients. I must beg leave to return especial thanks for the "Penny Collection," amounting to £2 75. 6d. The collection of 570 pennies, represents a large amount of self-denial; many thanks to all the contributors. Two other gifts contained in the parcel, excited much interest,—a puzzle sent by the Sonning Parish Boys' School, and a Box of toys and a doll, from two poor children. To the Editor of the I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obliged and obedient servant, Sonning Parish Magazine. SONNING. BAPTISMS. June 5th, William George, son of George and Anne Merricks. June 5th, George Perrin, son of John and Sarah Rackley. ALL SAINTS'. June 12th, Elizabeth, daughter of George and Sarah Series. SONNING, BURIALS. May 25th, Ada Emma Rutter, Marden, Kent, aged 1 year. June 13th, Charles Smith, Sonning, aged 64. June 21st, Michael Rackley, Sonning, aged 4. ALL SAINTS'. June 15th, William Millard, Dunsden, aged 35. The Church Services at Sonning and All Saints', will be the same as during last month. SONNING v. WARGRAVE. The return match was played at Wargrave on Thursday, July 21st. The game began very evenly, but ended in a somewhat easy victory for Sonning. The following is the score : Every one knows that there has always been a preference shown towards the South or sunny side of the Churchyard for burial. In some country Churchyards you may still see the North side entirely deserted. In the case of our own Churchyard, the burials on the South side had been so excessive, that at the restoration of the Church we had to remove at least two feet of earth, which had thus been accumulated against the Church wall, and to lower the whole of the Southern part of the Churchyard. The bones were collected and buried in pits under the gravel walk. In making this removal we came upon numerous fragments of ancient tiles, which must have been cast out of the Church when the pavement was removed at different times to make room for vaults. It is curious that there are no old monuments in the Churchyard, not a fragment earlier than the restoration of Charles II. I cannot quite account for this, because stone is a material which lasts for centuries, and on the continent there are many ancient monuments in the Churchyards. One famous Jewish Cemetery at Prague in Bohemia, contains tombs of the 12th and 13th centuries in good preservation. The oldest monument in our Churchyard is a small piece of stone which was dug up a few years ago, inscribed with the name of "Cornelius Payne, 1661;" there is also the fragment of a tombstone with the date 1665. Headstones and footstones came into use after the Reformation. They were at first much more elaborate in workmanship and had devices of Cherubim, deaths'-heads, hour glasses, weeping willows, scythes, broken pillars, and other like emblems. Some of these may still be seen in our Churchyard, and are really more interesting than the plain painted headstone which is so common. It may be hoped that we are now beginning to see the great superiority of the ancient form of a cross as a Christian monument. Anyone who has travelled abroad, will recall with delight the beautiful varieties of stone and marble crosses, which meet the eye in every Churchyard and Cemetery. It may be well to mention here that iron crosses of Mr. Woodyer's admirable design may be obtained at much less cost than stone ones, and painted iron crosses have an excellent effect, and have the advantage of being durable. Some of the later monuments in our Churchyard are all that could be wished, and a notable improvement also has taken place within the last twenty years in the matter of the inscriptions. It is hardly possible to speak too strongly against the poetical epitaphs of the last century. The doggrel lines, under various forms, "Affliction sore long time I bore, Physicians' art was vain," The may be considered the national inscription of England. We have several specimens of it. But our local poem is a different one. prevailing epitaph of our forefathers was, "Free from malice, void of pride, So he lived, and so he died." There was, I have heard, one epitaph in our Churchyard which contained an insult to every passer by. It was on a wooden rail, and has long since disappeared. The lines were, "God takes the good, too good on earth to stay, And leaves the bad, too bad to take away." It is a great satisfaction to think that no original poem of this or any other kind has been admitted into our Churchyard for more than twenty years. When we remember what there is to choose from in the boundless resources of the Bible, and how extremely instructive and edifying it is to read "holy texts" on the monuments of the dead, we need never wish to recall the lamentable rhymes of our ancestors. It is difficult to decide which is the best form of inscription in memory of the dead; there is much to be said in favour of the old "Sacred to the memory of," but perhaps the more ancient 'Here rests,' or 'Here sleeps,' 'in peace,' 'in hope,' or 'in Christ,' is more consoling. In the ancient Christian Catacombs at Rome the inscription is invariably, "in peace," or "in Christ," and this has now become a very general form in England. Amongst our inscriptions one may be mentioned of some interest. It is "to the memory of John Stevens, who died, May 18th, 1838, aged 100 years. One cannot but regret that our Churchyard should be traversed in all directions by public footways. This makes it impossible for it to be kept in as beautiful order as it ought to be. Children will play about the graves, and immense mischief is done by dogs both to the tombs and shrubs. It is a constant difficulty to guard against injuries of this kind, but I earnestly hope there is a better feeling growing up amongst us, and a common desire to see more reverence shown towards "God's acre," as our Saxon forefathers delighted to call the hallowed ground of the Churchyard. The yew tree, of which we have an excellent specimen of many hundred years growth, was always placed on the South side of the Church; as a long living and ever green tree, it was regarded as the best type of immortality and everlasting life. H. P. |