The lost boys

In a shady area near the gate to Linton Infant School there's a tiny grave, perhaps the saddest in St. Mary's churchyard. It is overgrown with weeds and surrounded by a low, rusted iron railing. The headstone, half obscured by lichen, reads:

 ARTHUR HENRY

SON OF

WILLIAM P AND

LOUISA A CHALK

WHO DIED NOV 26

1865

AGED 9 MONTHS

ALSO OF

THE TWIN BROTHERS

OF THE ABOVE

WHO SURVIVED THE BIRTH

TWO DAYS

Before the age of modern medicine, the death of a child must have been an almost universal experience - which doesn't make the loss of these babies any less tragic. It's a comfort to know that William and Louisa Chalk went on to have other children, all girls, who survived and grew up and married, and no doubt brought much joy to their parents...but I'm sure they never forgot the little boys who might have been. Both parents were eventually buried in a family tomb close by their babies.

Grist to the mill

It continues to amaze me, how easy it is to walk past something countless times without seeing it, and then once you've spotted it you wonder how you ever missed it.

A friend was visiting from America recently, and of course I dragged her down to St. Mary's to inspect the graffiti and other Linton treasures. As we wandered around we made a new discovery!

Embedded in the exterior of the east wall of the church are two round stones (possibly two and a half) which I believe were once used for grinding flour. They are not huge like the stones seen in wind or water mills, but a hand-span size (about 20cm), the right scale for domestic use. A little internet research tells me stones like this come in pairs, with a "quern" on the bottom and a "handstone" for turning on the top. Grain is poured in through the hole in the handstone, to be ground between the two surfaces. The technology is centuries old and has been used the world over for grinding wheat, corn, rice or whatever the local grain might be.

I don't know how old these particular stones are - they could be Medieval, maybe even Roman. The church has been restored, altered and repaired down the years (including this past year) and I don't know at which point these round stones became part of the building, but quite possibly it was during the early 14th century. Online I can't find many similar examples of stones like this being used in church construction - which is not to say there aren't lots out there, they may just not have been recorded.

Since Linton had a long history of milling it feels appropriate to find a nod to this built into the fabric of the church, which is the traditional heart of the village. I suppose the stones may have been just lying around and handy to use, or did they have some special significance? A form of blessing on local millers or farmers? A nice idea, though I have no proof at all.