David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 4 - Burial in Luddenden)

David's body was brought back from Morton Beck and buried at St Mary's Church in Luddenden with his wife Dorothy who had died 34 years earlier.

St Mary's Church, Luddenden

There is a record of the inscription on the gravestone of David and Dorothy:

Here lieth the Body

of Dorothy the wife

of David Hiley of

Warley who depart

ed this life the (13?)th

day of January Anno

Domini 1733 in the

51: year of her Age.

Also the abovesaid

David Highley who

departed this Life

the 4th Day of Au

gust 1767 in the 68th

Year of his Age.

The grave was in the yard south of the church but there is no sign of it today. We know that some gravestones have been moved and areas grassed over and some have simply been lost over the years. Some have been stolen and used for building purposes, and some have been broken or damaged and removed. It is thought that for most burials the flat slab was the usual graveyard monument.

There were many Hileys/Highleys buried at Luddenden but only a handful of their gravestones can now be seen. Although none of David and Dorothy's 3 children stayed in Warley a number of the descendants of their son David were buried at Luddenden. Many of those buried were descendants of James, son of Henry, who was born in 1694, and some were descendants of Michael, born in 1692. At the moment it is not possible to confirm the relationship between David, James and Michael.