Headstone of Richard Thistlethwaite, St Peter's Churchyard
St Peter's Church, Church Lane, Wrestlingworth, Bedfordshire, SG19 2EU
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1451839
- Date first listed:
- 03-Aug-2018
- List Entry Name:
- Headstone of Richard Thistlethwaite, St Peter's Churchyard
- Statutory Address:
- St Peter's Church, Church Lane, Wrestlingworth, Bedfordshire, SG19 2EU
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1451839
- Date first listed:
- 03-Aug-2018
- List Entry Name:
- Headstone of Richard Thistlethwaite, St Peter's Churchyard
- Statutory Address 1:
- St Peter's Church, Church Lane, Wrestlingworth, Bedfordshire, SG19 2EU
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- St Peter's Church, Church Lane, Wrestlingworth, Bedfordshire, SG19 2EU
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Central Bedfordshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley
- National Grid Reference:
- TL2593147361
Summary
A C17 gravestone against the south wall of the chancel of St Peter's Church (Grade I), Wrestlingworth
Reasons for Designation
The headstone of Richard Thistlethwaite in St Peter's Churchyard, Wrestlingworth, dated 1657, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a fine surviving example of mid-C17 funerary monument with sophisticated carved detail and letterwork.
Group value:
* as part of an important grouping of C17 and C18 monuments within a historic churchyard.
History
St Peter's Church (Grade I) dates from the C12 with later additions and alterations, it was restored in the C19. The graveyard primarily contains memorials from the C17-C19 including a series of later-C17 and early-C18 listed examples (NHLE entries 1138293, 1138295, 1114106, 1114105 and 1321638). These and the stone being assessed have been considered in more detail by H. Mytum and K. Chapman in 'The Origin of the Graveyard Headstone: some 17th-century examples in Bedfordshire', 2006.
The gravestone is a well-preserved example of a C17 funerary monument. It has been suggested that the stone may have been moved at some point in the past as it is currently located very close to the chancel wall, however, it is likely to have been in its current location for many years and since the designation of the other listed stones in the graveyard.
Richard Thistlethwaite's burial is recorded on the National Burial Index for England and Wales and it appears from genealogical records that he was part of the Thistlethwaite family from Sedbergh near York. As noted by Mytum and Chapman 'the burial records for 14 August 1657 records "Richard Thistlethwaite B. A." which is what the inscription claims and the university qualification was clearly of significance".
Details
A Headstone, dated 1657, of limestone, with inverted C-scrolled crest carvings to top left and right of stone with further scroll and floral motif placed centrally. The inscription reads, RICARDUS THISTLE/ THWAITE BACAL ARTIUM/ 1657
Sources
Books and journals
Mytum, H, Chapman, K, 'The Origin of the Graveyard Headstone: some 17th-century examples in Bedfordshire in Church Archaeology, Vol. 7-9, (2006), 67-78
Websites
'Parishes: Wrestlingworth', in A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1908), pp. 255-259. British History Online, accessed 23 October 2017 from http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol2/pp255-259
National Burial Index for England & Wales Transcription, accessed 23 October 2017 from https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbpr/d/nbi00145561
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 27-Jul-2026 at 02:17:46.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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