The Churchyard and Cemetery

The eighteenth century maps of the village show a semicircular boundary to the churchyard.  The semi-circular shape of a churchyard is often associated Saxon England, i.e. before the Norman conquest.  The boundary of the churchyard was curtailed on the west when the rectory was built in the mid-eighteenth century.  The east side of the graveyard is about 1 metre higher than the land next to it, probably reflecting the centuries over which bodies were piled up on top of each other!

The oldest surviving parts of the church, including the inner doorway and possibly the bellcote, are Norman (C12).  The remaining parts of the church were added mainly in the seventeenth century.  More on the church can be found here.

Plan of Churchyard

A map of the churchyard identifying each memorial is shown below. 

A list of the inscriptions corresponding to the numbered memorials can be downloaded here.

The webmaster has further information on some of the individuals cited on the churchyard memorials. In addition a register has been compiled covering burials since the 1930s in the separate graveyard to the north-west of the church. (If you’d like further information please make contact here.) The memorial inscriptions have been drawn from the work of the Cleveland Family History Society and the Dales Genealogy website. The latter includes photographs of many of the memorials in the churchyard. These records have been supplemented by more recent work. 

The graves

The churchyard contains just over 100 marked graves.  Whilst most of the memorials are gravestones there are also crosses, memorials bounded by enclosures, and chest tombs. Most of the memorials are nineteenth century, although around ten date from the eighteenth century.  By the twentieth century the churchyard was becoming full and only about another twenty burials took place there.  Land was consecrated in the field to the north-west of the church in the late nineteenth century and later burials have taken place there.

The parish registers note that 369 individuals were buried during the nineteenth century at Marske.  This number probably accounts for most of the population of the village at the time – the census records the population to have ranged between 220 and 290 (see census data for Marske).  However the memorials in the graveyard only relate to 153 burials (40%).  Those whose lives were commemorated by memorials and gravestones tend to be those that were relatively wealthy.  They are also likely to be people whose relatives could read!

An analysis of the occupations of most of those buried in the graveyard is possible by looking at census data. Those buried with memorials are split roughly equally between tenant farmers, agricultural workers, estate workers, and others whose work may have been independent of the estate. Most of the known nineteenth century tenant farming families are represented by memorials, but it is perhaps surprising that a large number of presuambly poorer families also provided memorials for their dead (e.g. other farm and estate workers). Those less directly dependent on the estate included several grocers, blacksmiths, postmen, and an innkeeper, dressmaker, shoemaker, lead miner and carter.

Many graves are clustered in family groups.  Most graves relating to the Hutton family (owners of the Hall and estate) are within the church itself.  Most clergy were buried in the north-west corner of the churchyard, and most of the twentieth century graves are in the south-west corner.  The three chest tombs and most of the enclosed memorials are close to the north east of the churchyard. 

The oldest and newest graves

The oldest identifiable gravestone in the churchyard is from 1725 and commemorates the lives of Ann and Thomas Wilson from Feldom.  The eighteenth century gravestones are typically quite short (60cm high), simple and stubby-looking compared to more recent gravestones.

The most recent memorial in the churchyard is to the Reverend Walter Haslewood, rector of Marske who died in 1930, and his wife Alice who died twenty years later.

Tales from the Graves

The chest tombs

It isn’t clear what distinguishes the families in the chest tombs from others in the graveyard – although in at least two of the cases the families concerned were well-connected and well-off. 

The Anderson Tomb (memorial 145)

This tomb takes the form of a box.  Dorothy and Elizabeth Anderson, died in 1849 and 1859.  The family had connections to the Fenwick family of Feldom (who later formed the Fenwick department store chain), Walburn Hall, and the Hutton family.  Elizabeth died in Leyburn and was described as a retired grocer in receipt of an annual income/pension. 

The Wilson Tomb (memorial 141)

This tomb is made of two pieces of faced stone giving it an unusual triangular profile.  The tomb is a memorial to Barbara Wilson, who died in 1800, and her husband James.  James had come from Feldom.  By the end of her life Barbara owned land in her own right at Marrick, and is presumed therefore to have had some financial independence.  Wilson is the most common surname in the churchyard memorials.

The Coates Tomb (memorial 128)

This memorial is to a Richard Coates who died in the early 1800s, but it is unfortunately barely legible.  Three other memorials dating from later in the nineteenth century relate to Coates family members, and it is assumed they were relatively well off.

The far-travelled

Most of the memorials are from families that lived and died locally.  There are two obvious exceptions.

San Sebastian and William Kirkby (memorial 27)

William Kirkby, who died aged 33 in 1836 and was buried in San Sebastian, Spain. His father was a clergyman, Thomas Barker Kirkby, who had been rector of Downholme from 1803 to at least 1808². His mother was Mary Busby from Skelton.  Busby is a common surname amongst the other nineteenth century memorials in the churchyard – many of which are clustered close to this memorial.

It is likely that Kirkby was part of the British Auxiliary Legion, which was sent to Spain to support liberals and Queen Isabella II of Spain in the face of opposition from Carlists.  The British had at that time controlled maritime traffic along the Cantabrian Coast – and this motivated the military action and support for the Queen.  By the end of summer 1836 10,000 men were in the area – however they were pushed back to hold the fort on Mount Urgall de San Sebatian.  One quarter of the legion died of whom only half died from combat.  Some of those who died were buried in the English Cemetery on Mount Urgall³.

Lead mining in Illinois and William Coates (memorial 130)

This is a memorial to William Coates, who died in 1854, aged 30, and his parents.  William was buried at Scales Mound in Illinois, and almost certainly emigrated with others from Swaledale in search of work in the lead mines there, and against the backdrop of the failing fortunes of lead mining locally.  A brief history of nineteenth century emigration to America from Marske, and Swaledale more generally, is covered on the web-pages on New Forest and emigration.

The tragic

The graveyard records many deaths that would be exceptional today, including most prominently young women who probably died in childbirth, and children who did not survive into adulthood.

Drowned in Clapgate Beck. The Rookby Brothers (memorial 20)

The Rookby brothers (William (37) and Joseph (33) – both joiners) were drowned on Saturday 16 November in Clapdale Beck during the Great Flood of 1771^4,5.  They had travelled that morning from Skelton to a Michaelmas hiring fair in Richmond in search of employment. Whilst in Richmond the skies opened and they delayed their return journey until the evening. Alas the rain was not to clear and they risked crossing Clapgate Beck with disastrous results for them and their horse. They were found with their arms wrapped around each other. The storm was described by a contemporary newspaper as having done terrible damage at Richmond, destroying a “great number of houses, mills, stacks of hay and cattle”, as well as most of the bridges between Richmond and Sunderland⁵.

Children of Thomas and Mary Brown (memorial 133)

Memorial 133 is devoted to the remembrance of the children of Thomas and Mary Brown. John Tiplady Brown and Edwin George Kilburn were aged 7 months and three years old when they both died in 1892.  Their burials followed a coroner’s inquest – and a little more research is needed to understand more about their deaths. An online family genealogist⁶ has suggested that the five roses carved into the head of the gravestone may symbolise five surviving children. 

At the time the Brown family lived at Manor House Farm, in Marske⁶.  Thomas, the father, had been born at Keld and was a farmer. His wife Mary (nee Kilburn) was born in Bainbridge, her parents were Alexander Kilburn (1834-1902), a cattle dealer, and Elizabeth Tiplady (1826-1899). The family living at Manor House Farm in the 1881 census was Kilburn – and the head of household was a farmer of 800 acres.  At the same time Thomas and Mary E Brown had been living at Skelton, and he was recorded as a farmer of 260 acres aged 31.  Prior to this his family had farmed at Telfit Farm. The movement of the Brown family between three tenanted farms over a period of 30 years probably suggests that they had taken opportunities to improve the land they farmed when new tenancies became available.

The notable

The Baldwin grave (memorial 102)

Robert Baldwin had been a coachman, born in Lincolnshire in 1806⁶. He had found employment in London with the Marquess of Lansdowne, and then the Duchess of Somerset, latterly living at her Stables on Park Lane. Whilst in London he met and married Catherine Fryer in 1831. Catherine was born at Moorhouse Farm, Skelton, Marske in 1802. On retirement the couple returned to the area, and in 1881 they were living with their nephew William Marwood, in nearby Gayles. (In 1850 William Marwood had emigrated to Wisconsin, and then travelled to Australia before returning to England to marry in 1856.) Robert and Catherine Baldwin died in Barnard Castle in 1884 and 1888, having been predeceased by both of their sons and their only grandchild. Robert Baldwin’s will left 15 shares of the Railway Passenger Assurance Company towards an annual summer school treat for the children of Marske⁷. The children of the village in return decorated the grave with flowers. The local tradition of the Baldwin treat continued beyond 2000. Neighbouring graves include the Fryer and Wilkinson families.

[Photo of Baldwin treat to be added.]

The Cameron memorial (memorial 126)

John William Cameron was born in 1841 at Kirkby Stephen – more details on his life and connection with the village can be found here. By 1861 he was living in Barnard Castle where he served as a brewer’s apprentice.  In 1865, John Cameron moved to West Hartlepool to take up his first position as brewer with a company that he would subsequently buy and which would take his name.  He was active with the Durham Volunteers, and became Alderman, Major and Town Commissioner for Hartlepool.  In 1890 he took a lease of Marske Hall, partly for the shooting. The extent of the respect which John Cameron had gained over the years is obvious in the reports of his funeral.  On Thursday January 7th 1897 a special train left West Hartlepool bound for Richmond. Among the mourners were three hundred members of the Durham Volunteers, as well as many folk from Marske and Swaledale. When they were all gathered, the funeral procession left Marske Hall headed by a firing party of the 4th Durham Volunteers followed by a gun carriage, which had been sent from West Hartlepool, bearing the coffin covered with a Union Jack.  A memorial window in the east of the church was bequeathed by Cameron and unveiled by The Bishop of Richmond in May 1897. As he removed the sheet which was covering the window, the Bishop said “I dedicate this window to the glory of God and the memory of one who loved this church and this place”.

1. Gainford, F. 1732. Map Mannour of Marske. North Yorkshire County Record Office Ref ZAZ.[↩]
2. Clergy of the Church of England Database. Clergy database. Accessed 2025[↩]
3. Wikipedia. British Auxilliary Legion and San Sebastian. Accessed 2025[↩]
4. Kluz, L. Musing from Marske, article on hiring fairs and the Rookby brothers. Richmond, Downholme and Marske parish magazine. November 2021.[↩]
5. Derby Mercury. Newspaper article. 6 December 1771.[↩][↩]
6. Ancestry.com. Subscription Website. Accessed 2025.[↩][↩][↩]
7. Probate Office. 1884 and 1888. Probate and wills of Robert and Catherine Baldwin.[↩]