Flowers for a Dame.

" To one ,who oft the tenderest nursing gave,
To you, ye flowers , now join to deck the grave,
Of one, whose heart from every blemish free,
Like you, ye flowers was all simplicity,
Of one -- whose harmless wit , whose modest sense,
Diffused, like you the sweets of innocence,
Bloom them forever! -- and with pious care,
May some kind friend your mouldring bed repair,
That native worth of her who sleeps below.

Surrounded by the railings, Dame Joanna Elton`s  grave at St. Leonards Church at Grateley in Hampshire. She died November 1782, aged 95. The poem is hers, and is on the back of the headstone.

Requesting her grave always having flowers. To this day, parishioners continue with her request, 233 years on.

The small building by the grave is the Bier House, where the wheeled bier was stored. It`s now kept inside the church.