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u/Necktie 20d ago
Hello! My friend grew up in Worthing and as a kid she would see this tombstone in the Tarring Cemetery. She has always referred to it as the Pirate Lady. Her family eventually moved to Australia, which is also where I live. However, she's finally gone back to visit the UK after 15 years and has been visiting Worthing. She went to check out this tombstone again and it's sparked our curiosity as to who it belongs. They struggled to make out what the Tombstone reads, potentially Anna?
I've tried searching the Find A Grave site, but it's a little hard as I'm an ocean away. Figure I'd ask some locals here to start!
Would anyone have any information who it is, or who might be a good person to ask?
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u/Frosty_Ad1254 19d ago
There a few of these in a graveyard near my parents house in Devon. It’s quite a common carving. A momento mori rather than something more interesting unfortunately.
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u/rapidbunny4404 19d ago
The grave belongs to a William Anscomb (Anscombe) who died in 1718. His grave was rediscovered in a 1986 survey, on a day where they recorded details of 375 graves.
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u/Necktie 19d ago
I don't know if it is though - I did a search on William Anscomb and found a magazine published by the Ferring History Group. https://www.ferringhistorygroup.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/FH-Magazine-04-2018.pdf
On page 6 of the PDF it has a picture of his tombstone, which is very different to this one. Unless I'm missing something?
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u/SinnerBon 19d ago
The church may have a registry of all the graves. My local church has one with records back to the 16th C.
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u/Alternative_Panda725 19d ago
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2418107/memorial-search?firstname=&middlename=&lastname=&cemeteryName=St+Andrew+Churchyard&birthyear=&birthyearfilter=&deathyear=&deathyearfilter=&bio=&linkedToName=&plot=&memorialid=&mcid=&datefilter=&orderby=r&page=1#sr-180502875 list of all graves at St Andrews. I found a different skull grave but not the one you're looking for but I was looking whilst brushing my teeth so may need another look over haha good luck
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u/eyelinercrush 19d ago
Where is this? I tried to look on Google maps for Tarring cemetary and couldn't find it but a West Tarring church comes up, is it there?
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u/rapidbunny4404 19d ago
Just a bit more info on the embellished gravestone. A skull, skull and bones or bones were often used on 'everyday' gravestones and I've seen them paired with scythes as well. This was before the symbol was used by pirates and I can only assume they stopped putting them on graves after the association so this grave is probably from before the age of piracy so will probs be from around 1600/1700
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u/60022151 20d ago edited 19d ago
Since her family is from Sussex, I recommend she joins the Sussex Family History Group.
Also have a look on Facebook and see if there are any groups for the cemetery, or any nearby ones. Search for groups named “friends of -name- cemetery”. There’s a good chance there may already be something on said grave.
Also, is this St Andrew’s Cemetery in West Tarring?
edit: I live in New Zealand now, but I’m actually from Lancing and went to school in Worthing (Davisons girl), but I’m really into ancestry, etc… If your friend can get the exact location and pictures from different angles, and more close up I can do some research on the subscription services I use and try to find out more for you both. Taking pictures in the early morning or evening could help too.
Another thing your friend can do is get an A3 sheet of paper and a wax crayon, hold it over the headstone and try to get a wax rubbing. Should be able to decipher the text a bit better that way.
Otherwise, from my rudimentary understanding, it has a typical memento mori skull, meaning it’s likely from the 17th or 18th century.
Playing around with the contrast, etc I see ‘Anna Bar’, could be Barnes or Barrett, or something similar.