The Elphick Stone
Enhanced to show lettering
HERE • LYETH • BURYED • STEPHEN •
ELPHICK • GENT • WHO • MARRYED •
MARY • THE • RELICT • OF • THOMAS •
MEERE • OF • GLYNLEY • GENT • AND •
WAS • INTERRED • THE • 30 • SEPT • 1689
THE • 72 • YEARE • OF • HIS • AGE
The Elphick Stone: Irregular square piece of a headstone in a close-grained pale grey limestone 30ins high, 29 ins wide and 4 ins thick. The upper part is blank, the central and lower parts bear 6 lines of text. The bottom of the stone was sawn off at the time of its removal from inside the church, the whole stone being too heavy to move. The stone was presumably harvested from the churchyard & was next found covering a 19th century heating duct when the floor of the church was taken up in 2006. It is now stored in the small organ bellows room at the south-east corner of the church, to which there is no public access. Retention inside the church has protected the stone from weathering, so the shallow-carved lettering is well-preserved. It is the oldest surviving memorial inscription at St Leonard’s. Stephen married Mary Meere in April 1654, and his Will dated 13 Dec 1684 was proved in Nov 1689.