THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
tombstone of Thomas Rayneford, the last
Prior of Birkenhead Monastery.
The inscription on the latter is in Latin,
the following being a translation :—
"^tvt lietf) Ef)oma« i^apneforb,
fonmrlp tfje goob $rior of tfjisi l^ousc,
tofjo tilth ttje 8t!) ot iWap in tfje pear of
our Horb, 1473.
iHap ^ob be gracious to ftis; soul."
Other crosses of this type are seen in
the Charles Dawson Brown Museum,
West Kirby. They were dug up in the
environs of the church.
The original purpose of the finely carved
fragments of stone and crosses at Neston,
placed at the west end of the interior of
the church, is not known.
Most of the old churchyards of Wirral
are provided with the orthodox yew tree,
and one of these, namely that at Eastham,
is of immense antiquity. We are so
accustomed to the presence of a yew tree
in a churchyard that we are inclined to
regard it as almost a necessary occupant,
yet its position in consecrated ground is
due neither to statutory enactment nor to
ecclesiastical law. Some of its function
and origin has already been discussed in
the "Beauty and Interest of Wirral."
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