Stories Behind the Headstones

On Saturday last, our monthly coffee morning was accompanied by a talk. Owen Vaughan came to tell us about his work of researching and recording the inscriptions on the gravestones and plaques of Monkton Priory Church. Originally, we had thought of a walk around the churchyard to look at the headstones, but with it being the coldest Easter for 50 years, we thought better of it and listened to Owen's talk in the comparative warmth of the Church Hall.

The cemetery lies in front of Priory Church, but the headstones have been cleared away: many are arranged around the churchyard walls and some have disappeared. There are many stories behind the headstones and Owen told us of a very small selection from his researches.

Canon David Bowen

One of the few gravestones still to be seen in front of the church is the memorial to Canon David Bowen. It reads: 'In loving memory of Rev. David Bowen BA, Vicar of this parish 1877-1926 and Canon of St. Davids Cathedral' together with his wife Margaret who sadly was buried on April 30, 1885, aged only 48 years. In 1881, David, aged 37, born in Llanelli, resided in East Back in the parish of Pembroke St. Michael, along with Margaret (nee Harrison) who was born in Holywell, Flintshire, and whom he married in 1874. After the death of his wife in 1885, David continued to live as a widower at Priory Farm House, Monkton, supported by Sarah Jane Morris a 26-year-old domestic servant of Landshipping. He died in 1926.

'Restorer of the Church'

The headstone bears an epithet 'Restorer of this Priory Church' for it was Canon Bowen who made the restoration of Monkton Priory his life's work. When he became Rector of the Parish of Monkton, the choir and sanctuary of the church had became a roofless ruin and remained so until its restoration. In the process of restoration, a macabre discovery was made: the floor of the nave was lowered and hundreds of human bones were found, lying in a haphazard manner. These remains were collected and re-interred in a large grave in the churchyard and printed here is a photograph which shows Canon David Bowen conducting the service at the re-interment.

Joseph King, HM Dockyard

On the left hand side of the churchyard is the headstone 'To the memory of Joseph King, HM Dockyard, aged 60 years' - although the inscription is now scarcely legible. The story behind this headstone was particularly interesting. Joseph King, who died on June 10, 1829, was of Portuguese origin. His real name was Joaquim Mendoza, but when he entered the Royal Navy as a young man, his fellow sailors could not pronounce his name and called him Jo King, a name he kept for the rest of his life. He was a skilled sailor who won the favour of the Captain of HMS Boreas who referred to him as "My old and valuable friend, King": that captain was none other than Horatio Nelson. He led a distinguished and amazing career which led him to Pembroke Dockyard in 1820 where he was employed as a boatswain. Despite all this, he found himself in Haverfordwest jail in 1826 having fallen into debt and subsequently lived for the remainder of his life in distressed circumstances. Owen informed us that Jo King is to be commemorated in next year's Pembroke Dock centenary celebrations - quite right too.

Several of those buried here came from the new town of Pembroke Dock which didn't have a cemetery of its own for the first 20 years of its existence. Jo King's granddaughters were also laid to rest here: Charlotte Mary King aged only one-and-a-half years on July 19, 1833, and Mary Nelson King, a mere four-months-old on June 16, 1837.

Eliza Hitchings

The photograph of the Monkton Priory Church shows a churchyard crowded with many headstones, but some, unfortunately have disappeared. In the foreground of the picture is a distinctive headstone clearly marked with the name Eliza followed by the inscription 'beloved wife of Henry Hitchings, Quoits Hill, died Feb 19th 1892 aged 77 years'. The top of this headstone was recently still to be seen on the east wall of the churchyard and by chance I photographed Owen standing by it during our tour of the Priory Church (led by Pauline Waters) in 2010. This now appears to be lost: how fortunate, therefore that Owen was able to record the inscription.

From diverse places

There are many stories of people who for some reason or another came from diverse places to find their final resting place in Monkton.

James John

James was a commercial traveller from Islington. He was the son of Daniel John, a farmer, and he married Martha Thomas, of The Priory Monkton, daughter of George Thomas, a constructor, by license on December 28, 1875. They had a daughter Gertrude Maude who was baptised at Monkton on April 21, 1879. Gertrude is shown as residing at The Priory Farm Monkton when she died, sadly, aged two years and seven months and was buried on March 25, 1881, by D. E. Williams. The infant mortality rate was high in the 19th century.

Charles Albert Henry Ayling

Charles was buried in plot E. 107 in Monkton Cemetery, but was born at Portsmouth on March 12, 1912. His is a heroic story. He enlisted in the RAF as boy entrant in August 1927, gained the Air Observer Badge in 1937 and saw service in Egypt attached to the Fleet Air Arm. He qualified as a pilot on April 5, 1939, and was involved in operations in France, May-June 1940. He was shot down whilst flying over the River Somme and crash landed at Ronum-Boos airfield, and on June 10, he flew to Tangmere from Garnay airfield despite a punctured tank. He was promoted and ultimately joined 421 Flight. This unit (which later became 91 Squadron), was equipped with Hurricanes and Spitfires and sent out aircraft to search for and report Luftwaffe formations approaching England. However, on October 11, 1940, flying a Spitfire, he crashed and was killed at Newchurch, Kent, following combat over Hawkinge. He was buried in the churchyard because Monkton was the home of his Welsh wife, Joan. His brother Albert was killed in a flying accident in Montgomery USA, August 10, 1942.

Quite an undertaking!

There are so many stories, I can only give a brief taster here. "This was meant to be a small scale project, perhaps leading to the publication of a pamphlet which could be sold in aid of Church funds," Owen told me.

"However, so much material has been uncovered that I have had to publish it as a CD. It amounts in all to 84 pages!"

For Owen has photographed, recorded and researched all the pre-1950 headstones and memorials in the parish, including those in the new cemetery and in the church itself.

This valuable resource (on CD format) is now being sold to help raise church funds and will be available to buy for £5 (£7 by post to include p&p. Any queries, please contact Liz Jenkins on 01646 684277 or email us. The CD will be available to buy at our events.

Contact

If you have any stories, photographs or feedback for this column, please contact me, Linda Asman, on 01646 622428, email [email protected]">[email protected] and visit our website http://www.pembrokeandmonkonhistory.org.uk">www.pembrokeandmonkonhistory.org.uk

Next event

On Friday, April 19, there will be a talk by George Lewis on the 'Pembroke and Tenby Railway - 150th Anniversary', Monkton Church Hall, 7.30 pm. Free event, all welcome.