FUNDS are urgently needed for the restoration of an 18th century tomb in St Peter’s Church, Thornbury, which is deteriorating at a rapid rate.

The Johns family tomb is the oldest memorial box tomb in the village and dates from 1702. It is the resting place of Elizabeth Johns, who died aged 34, as well as three of her four children who died around the same time as their mother. It is believed one son, John, survived but descendents of his family have not been traced.

Meg Galley-Taylor has been working on behalf of the Parochial Church Council, for which her husband is a member, to raise funds to protect and restore the historic structure. It all began in 2013 as part of an independent project Meg undertook to document all the gravestones in the local area. She said: “I am doing it because in 2013 I started a project to photograph and transcribe all of the gravestones in both the church and chapel graveyards here in Thornbury as they were becoming increasingly difficult to read. 

“I produced four hardback books of the pictures and also sell DVDs of them on behalf of the church to raise some money. It was because of this project that I accidentally discovered that the Johns tomb is a Grade II listed monument in its own right independent of the church, and that the Quinquennial Inspection of the church had already highlighted the need for its repair although nobody knew that it was listed!”

Meg hopes that as well as repairing the structure and rededicating it, more information about the family can be provided by local people: “I would also dearly love somebody who thinks they might be related to be there when we rededicate it. The problem is that Elizabeth Johns’ son, called John Johns, only had daughters and I just can’t track down any marriages for them and hence descendants. ‘Johns’ is quite a common name but I can’t link any of the local ones to the family, as we would need to go back to at least 1630 and Thornbury’s records are missing from this period.”

Meg has been able however, through research, to discover a little more about Elizabeth and her family.

Elizabeth (1668-1702) was the second child of Thomas and Pascha Col[l]e (neé Colwell) who were married in Thornbury on October 24, 1661. She had an older sister Deborah (1665), a younger brother John (1672) and a sister Pascha (1670-1671).

There is also a monument inside the church, this one is to John Johns. Meg believes this is a commemoration to Elizabeth’s father-in-law John Johns (senior) rather than her husband John, but said ‘this only serves to confirm that the family were of some importance’.

Elizabeth’s husband’s parents were John and Patience Johns. So far during research there have been no signs of Elizabeth’s husband having other siblings. After Elizabeth’s death it appears he remarried to Philippa Maynard on February 28, 1703, and they had a number of children between 1704 and 1713.

Finally, John Johns, Elizabeth and John’s only surviving son, married Mary Jeffrey from Bradford on September 4, 1718. They had six daughters between 1719 and 1731, however the final daughter died in infancy at just five months of age. Meg said: “So far, I have found no marriages for any of these girls so tracing family down through the generations is difficult.”

Meg is working hard to ensure this family’s history is not lost and hopes potential family members will get in touch. Having put so much work into researching the tomb Meg said she felt it wasn’t right that the tomb should be left in a state of disrepair so, as there was no money available from the church, she has now decided to take matters into her own hands: “It just seemed wrong that it wasn’t being repaired, but the church had no money, so I set about raising the cash which has mainly come from Church Care, who also paid for the original conservator’s report, but also from the Leche Trust.”

She added: “I’m not a church-goer but I do think churches and historic structures are really precious so I just do this as it seems a good use of my time!”

Funding has come from various sources but more is needed and a Go Fund Me page has been set up to raise the extra funding needed. Meg said: “I’ve been raising money from various grant sources for about 18 months and have now exhausted all the routes I can think of, hence the public appeal.”

The recent survey of the condition of the memorial stated cost of repair would amount to £6,000, using a skilled conservator who would completely re-build the tomb once the fine inscription had been preserved. So far Meg, with the support of others, has been able to accumulate £4,000 in grant funding but no other sources of grant funding are available so the final amount will need to be fundraised separately.

It is hoped the work can be carried out by the summer of this year in a race against time as the tomb’s condition continues to deteriorate.

Those who donate £25 or more to the fundraising scheme will be acknowledged on an engraved plaque which will be placed in the porch of the church and all donors will be invited to the rededication service once the tomb has been restored. Donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/restoration-of-johns-memorial-thornbury-devon