AU10/50/1

Notes by Andrew Underwood on a fragment of tombstone removed from the garden of 31 Church Street, Ampthill reading: - - - [C]rown of England in K : W. and Q : Ann in Flanders & the la [te war?] in IRELAND & - - - [h] - - - AU suggests that it is a monument made at the instructions of Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury (1656-1741) as it is similar in style to that of John Laton and part of the memorial of Rowland Carleton, buried at Ampthill on 15 Apr 1712 and described as steward to Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury and also as gentleman of Horse. The Earl, a Jacobite, was exiled permanently in 1698 and ran his estate through messengers. A further suggestion is made that Carleton was the messenger sent by Ailesbury to James II in 1689 when he was in Ireland preparing to invade via Scotland where one of his advisers, Lord Melfort, was highly unpopular and Ailesbury wished the King to sent him elsewhere. AU suggests that the gravestone was in the floor of the church and was taken up in the refurbishment of the 1840s, 31 Church Street being home of the Parish Clerk of the time who used the stone to pave his back yard

31 May 1992

From: 1689 To: 1992

item

Carleton, Rowland,
Ailesbury, Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of,
James II,
Melfort, John Drummond, 1st Earl of,
Laton, John

monumental inscriptions, monuments, parish clerk, steward, AMPTHILL, Ampthill Church Street, Ireland, Scotland