Description

NZ 23 SE, 6/44 (inset)

SPENNYMOOR FRONT STREET
(North side)
Kirk Merrington

Brass tomb c.4 metres south of chancel of Church of St. John the Evangelist

GV

II

Chest tomb. To 3 children, John, Jane and Elizabeth Brass, murdered 1683;
tomb restored 1789 'by subscription', in reality by George Wood. Sandstone
ashlar; slab with moulded edges on roll-moulded corner slabs, with rusticated
panels in style of coursed masonry. Long inscription records murder by their
father's servant, Andrew Mills, and his execution and hanging in chains, and
ends
Reader remember Sleeping/we were Slain
And here we sleep till we must/rise again
Whoso sheddeth Man's Blood
By Man shall his Blood be shed
Thou shalt do no murder

Word 'executed" scatched out, supposedly by the culprit's family.

Source: W. Fordyce, History and Antiquities of the County Palatinate of
Durham, 1857, Vol. I, p.581.

Note. Fragment of stone inside church bears part of the original inscription.

Listing NGR: NZ2623931457

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26414608

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version