A Smith's final resting place

I finally got around to recording an inscription on the back of a tombstone at a now redundant church in North east England. The back reads:

My Anvil and Hammers lies declined

My Bellows have quite lost their wind

My Fires extinct, my Forge Decayed,

My Vice is in the Dust all laid.

My Coals is Spent, my Iron; gone.

My Nails are drove, my Work is done

My mortal part rests nigh this stone

My Soul to heaven I hope is Gone.


On the front, below small carvings of smith’s tools, the main inscription is:

Here lies the body of John Hunter from Black Hedley Woodhouse who departed this life April 10th 1796 aged 86.

The stone is in remarkably good condition after being exposed for 200 years, which is more than can be said for a large mausoleum tomb near it which has had some of the carvings stolen from it. The church is reasonably interesting to, and I’ll just have to go back because I didn’t get the second inscription….