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The majority of the inscriptions on the gravestones commence with one of the following: In Memory In Loving Memory Sacred To The Memory In Loving Remembrance In Affectionate Remembrance Reading the tombstones we learn that out of more than 200 people commemorated 167 'died', one of these 'died suddenly', another old lady 'died unmarried'. Twenty-five others 'departed this life' and three simply 'deceased' (two of these commemorated on the floor of the nave inside the church and the third just outside the church porch). It appears that a number of Spaxton people did not die, decease or depart; four, for example, 'passed away!' one just 'entered into rest' and six others were buried because they 'fell asleep'. Three just 'fell asleep', one 'fell asleep in Jesus', one 'sweetly fell asleep in Jesus', while the sixth 'fell asleep in Jesus at Taunton' Eleven others did not even fall asleep; they apparently did nothing at all to obtain their churchyard plot; their stones just show a name, or in one or two cases only initials and a date. These latter (numbers 8,9,10,49 & 59) almost certainly refer to people commemorated on other stones nearby. A stranger would be in no doubt that he was in a Christian cemetery from the inscriptions on the tombstones. Apart from the numerous crosses, several stones have the sacred monogram I H S (Jesus Hominum Salvator-Jesus Man Saviour) and there are numerous quotations from Holy Scripture and lines from popular hymns. E.g. two lines from 'Rock Of Ages' and 'I know that my Redeemer liveth' on graves 61 and 60 respectively. The inscriptions on about eight of the gravestones are now either completely or almost illegible and another dozen have some of the lettering missing due to weathering. The remainder retain their original inscriptions, though in a few cases these can be read only with difficulty. In addition to the names of the person or persons commemorated gravestones usually give the date of death and also the age at death. The following list of ages at death is interesting: |
7 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7 ~ 8 ~ 9 ~ 10 ~ 11 ~ 12 ~ 13 ~ 14 ~ 15 ~ 16 ~ 17 ~ 18 ~ 19 ~ 20 ~ 21 ~ 22 ~ 23 ~ 24 ~ 25 ~ 26 ~ 27 ~ 28 ~ 29 ~ 30 ~ 31 ~ 32 ~ 33 ~ 34
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