Bintree – St. Swithin’s Church (Grave of John Gill)

This grave is located at St. Swithin’s Church in Bintree and I took a photo of this gravestone as some sort of record given the perilious state that it’s in. It has transpired to be older than I had realised as the only evidence I can find of a burial at this church of a John Gill was on 15 October 1773. He married Anne Brooke at the church on 4 June 1759 and they had a son also called John Gill, but I’m not sure that the younger one was buried here. Looking at the photo in some detail does seem to suggest that the 1773 date is still visible, but it is very hard to read.

I thought that the gravestone looked early nineteenth century, but ChatGPT thinks:

“This style of headstone—with its scrolled “shoulders,” rococo shell-and-cherub motif at the top, and the deeply incised lettering—was most popular in the mid-18th century. My best guess is that this grave marker dates to around 1740–1760, making it roughly 260–280 years old.”

Google Gemini comes in with:

“I would estimate the gravestone likely dates from the late 1700s to the early 1800s.”

So, this sandstone gravestone is something of a survivor, dating back to 1773, although I’m not sure how many more decades it’ll hold out for.