‘So what are we doing this morning Adam?’ Our usual question when we arrive for a Highgate cemeteries gardening shift – and usually the answer is ivy clearance, bramble bashing, or reducing the overhanging trees so that visitors can walk underneath. But this morning we were put on ‘special duty’ – uncovering a grave. We assumed that a descendant must have been enquiring and the authorities, having located the grave on the original map of the cemetery, wanted it uncovered. Here it is….
That white stone to the right at the bottom of the picture, totally overgrown with ivy and with two small conifers and a laurel growing out of it.
So, first to remove the trees – here is Peter felling the conifers…
…and Robin tackling the laurel.
Next to attack the ivy whose thick mat of roots, was covering the grave. Fiona with the loppers is cutting and pulling the loose growth off the top.
In the process she uncovered the stumps of the trees that Peter had just felled the roots of which, unable to make their way downwards through the stone of the grave, had spread outwards through the leafsward which covered it.
In the process they had created a thick carpet of soil and ivy roots, some finger thick, others fine but tightly matted. If you can use a lopper to cut through the thicker roots you can sometimes pull up these ‘mats’ in great lumps as Peter and Robin are trying to do here.
This often works better as a joint effort – one person pulling up on the mat while another snips along the bottom through the finer matter roots.
This is, however, extremely hot work and, given that it was already a pretty warm day, we were soon all dripping with sweat. However, working as a finely honed team – we managed to remove the main matting to reveal – a grave!
A good deal of careful scraping with the plastic trowel (you cannot use metal which would damage the stone work) and we were getting there…..
‘Sacred to the Memory of Charles Roworth of Bell Yard Temple Bar in London’ who died in 1850 aged 86 – and Frederick Roworth who died aged 26 in 1856 – probably, Robin suggested, in the cholera outbreak of the mid 1850s. (Robin is hugely knowledgable about many of the graves in the cemeteries, a fount of information and a delight to have on a session.) And here is their ‘burial ticket’, unearthed by Fiona from the records while we were brushing off the grave.
Olive admiring our handiwork…..
…a cleared route through from the path for those who want to go and visit the Roworths….
…and the grave a seen from the main path.
A very satisfactory morning’s work.
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Wow, so interesting. Thanks
Very hard work, but well worth it! My heart was in my mouth though, seeing those loppers so close to fingers!!!!
We were being very careful!!
Thank you for your reply Michelle. Relieved to know that great care was taken. You all do an amazing job!
Thank you for your work! If you haven’t yet been made aware, Mr. Roworth was a publisher who published many of Jane Austen’s books, as well as a particularly influential work on the use of broadsword & saber which he penned himself.
No, I didn’t – so thank you for that – how fascinating. My gardening colleagues will be very interested. Broadsword and sabre – how exotic!!
In 1829 he was presented with ‘a massive silver urn’ in recognition of saving Bell Yard and Fleet St from a huge fire on more than one occasion.
Quite a guy!!!
Thank you for this very interesting blog about the grave of my 4x great-grandfather, Charles Roworth, printer, and his grandson Frederick W Roworth. I noticed that you have written that Frederick died in 1856 at the age of 26, but based on the photo of the tombstone, it looks like it says 1866, and based on Ancestry records for Frederick William Roworth, he was born abt 1845 Reigate, Surrey, England and was buried 21 Mar 1866 in Highgate Cemetery, St Pancras parish. Based on my family tree, this is the only person who could be the Frederick W Roworth added to the tombstone for Charles Roworth c1763-1850.
Hi Lynne – Thank you so much for your comment. And you absolutely could be right about the date. Fions’s records don’t appear to record Frederick’s burial date – although I am suspecting there may be more to the record than she photographed. I am assuming that the other Roworths listed have nothing to do with your family?
I was the one who requested the service for this grave. I am not a family member, but Charles Roworth is a pivotal figure in the study and practice of military swordsmanship in the Napoleonic era. I co-founded and run a martial arts club which dedicates a lot of time and study to the research of this topic. Finding Roworth’s grave was probably the final culmination of many years of research into a person whom little was known about. My work as a historical fencing or HEMA instructor is non-profit, we do it for the love and passion of the subject. To complete my research and bring it to the public, I produced a video all about Charles Roworth on our club Youtube channel, which can be seen below. This revealed a great deal of information previously unknown to the community. Thank you so much for your great work on Roworth’s grave, it was a final piece in the puzzle, and I am sure many fencers will want to visit the grave now they know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwC65qkxfgw&t=878s
How exciting, Nick! I am so glad that I decided to blog about uncovering that grave – and so happy that we managed to slot the final piece into your Roworth jigsaw puzzle. I have just been watching your video. Fascinating….. Love the Jane Austen connection!
I am suspecting that Highgate cemeteries might be interested in all of this and might even like a piece for their newsletter – so I am forwarding your details on to them an no doubt they will be in touch if they are.
Here’s hoping that lots of fencers now do come to visit as Highgate cemetery is a truly magical place.
Lynn – I am Michael Roworth. Charles Roworth is my great-great-great grandfather. I have much info about the family.
Hello Michael. How fascinating. I am not sure whether Lynn will still be getting notifications from this post but I have emailed her with your contact details as I suspect that she might want to follow up with you. Thank you for posting.
Leslie Howard, a famous 1930s Hollywood Film star, was a great great grandson of Charles Roworth
Love it!! Thank you.
Thank-you Michelle,
Elizabeth Roworth, burial date 19 July 1852 was a daughter-in-law to Charles Roworth, and mother of Charles Forbes Roworth, burial date 6 Apr 1905.