Bawdeswell – All Saints’ Church (John Leeds 1743-1763)

John Leeds (1743-1763) was the son of Robert Leeds and Alice Leeds, as well as being the brother of William Leeds and Robert Leeds. I can’t though establish why John died so young.

As I don’t get out much and need a distraction, I’ve been trying to establish how wealthy this family might have been. And I’ve discovered that the presence of these ledger stones isn’t necessarily a sign of high wealth, it was often because they were cheaper than monuments and so it was something that would have been accessible to the middle classes. The individuals would have been buried under these ledger stones, but as the church has been rebuilt twice due to a couple of unfortunate incidents, that may or may not be true here. If it wasn’t for church burials needing to move outside, primarily for health reasons, more churches might well have been completely paved with these ledger stones.