Outside, the oldest gravestones are rare examples from the sixteenth century. The first is under the great east window:
`Ellis Wheaton, d. Sep 28 1579'
Further west is an altar tomb sunk deeply in the soil:
`John Tayler, buried the X April 1586'
The Lee family were prominent in the village from at least the seventeenth century. Richard Lee was a churchwarden in 1671. His name is inscribed on one of the bells. An altar tomb close to chancel door features this chilling advice to future generations:
`Stay, passenger, awhile and read your doome;
I am, you must be, dead'
And above, in Latin:
`May this heavy stone ever remain to preserve the sacred ashes of a holy matron.'
Another Lee grave nearby indulges in puns typical of the period:
`October 1658
The wine that in these earthen vessels lay
The hand of death has lately drawn away
And as a present served it up on high
Whilst heere the vessels with the Lees do lie'
A little further west, about eighteen feet from the tower:
`Joseph Braddick, d. 27 June 1673, suddenly, at sheep-shearing.
Strong and in labour Such sudden strokes
Suddenly he reels Surviving mortals bid ye
Death came behind him Stand on your watch
And struck up his heels. And to be also ready.'
On the south side of the path:
`John Perryman, who without a known enemy and beloved in the parish, was shot in the dusk as he returned home from work, 8 September 1883. The killer was never discovered.'
`I will repay, saith the Lord'
East of the church at the south side of the path, there is an altar tomb to John Hurley with a tragic story attached.
John was that most hated of local figures in the eighteenth century, an Exciseman. He lost his life in mysterious circumstances on the night of the 9th of August 1755, while trying to put out a fire on the cliff-top. His body was found the next morning at the foot of the cliff. Whether the fall was an accident, none could say, but local smugglers were known to light signal fires on the cliffs when contacting contraband-laden vessels out in the Channel. Undeterred, John's brother William took up the challenge and succeeded as Exciseman, dying a natural death at the age of 74, after 46 years in the saddle as Riding Officer.
Being a coastal village, Branscombe has occasionally been the scene of shipwrecks, and in December 1802 a Danish cargo vessel, the Ornen resulted in the deaths of three Danish sailors whose memorial stone stands in the churchyard. The wooden sailing ship was a hundred and fifty feet long, and laden with timber, bound for Plymouth from Fredrickstadt, Norway. She had on board twelve hands, besides the captain and a boy. Ten of the hands and the boy were saved. Those buried in Saint Winifred's are:
`Neils Haagensen, a Dane of Huntspill aged 26, buried 7 December.
Christian Rosenberg Holst, a Dane of Grimsted, aged 19, buried 11 December.
Herman Simpsing, a Dane of Huntspill, Captain of the Ornen, aged 42, buried 28 December.'
There is a memorial to Branscombe's war dead, outside the church
gates.
Drawings © 1996 Angela Lambert
© 1996 Ronald Branscombe branscombe@globalnet.co.uk
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This page last updated: 15 August 1996 08:52:21