NEW SIXPENCES ON AN OLD TOMBSTONE
9 A Good Friday .custom, which dates from prc-Reformation times, was agnin observed this year in tho'ancient churchyard of St. Bartholomew-the-Grcat, Smithfield, where twenty-ono old dames attended to pick from a certain tombstone an equal number of new sixpences. Tradition has it that ovor 500 years aRo a pious lady left a bequest for tho provision of doles for widows, subject to tho condition that prayers for tho rcposo of her soul wero uttered on each Good Friday. Tho tomb is supposed to b& that of the benefactress, but all traces of its inscription have been obliterated. The average age of this year's recipients was 70 years, and tho oldest was !M. Thanks to the generosity of Sergeant W. H. Irons, R.E., tho parish warden, the sixpences wero supplemented by a further sum. In addition to the coins tho | old ladies each received a bag containing I a new bun.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 249, 15 July 1919, Page 8
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156NEW SIXPENCES ON AN OLD TOMBSTONE Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 249, 15 July 1919, Page 8
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