On a hill on the outskirts of the peaceful village of Rushton Spencer can be found St Laurence's church, there is a legend concerning a stone which had used to be located in a field below the hill the church stands on. This stone was known as the Satan Stone and it is said that it was carried by Satan and the marks that could be seen upon it were made by Satans apron strings cutting into it as he carried it. I read somewhere that many years ago it was removed from the field by someone using dynamite to blast it into smaller pieces so that it could be removed from the farmers field, however the person responsible for blowing it up blew one of his fingers off in the process.
Another tale attached to this church is that three giants are said to be buried beneath the floor of the church and they are said to be clad head to toe in armour.
St Laurence church. Photo by Gary Tacagni.
In the graveyard of St Laurence's church can be found a gravestone which faces west instead of east like all the other graves. On it is inscribed a mixture of Latin, English and Greek which reads as follows: Memento Mori (be mindful of death) Thomas son of Thomas and Mary Meaykin, interred 16th July 1781, aged 21 years. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fell I. Bia Thanates (death of violence). This poor person went from Rushton Spencer to Staffordshire and became a houseboy to an Apothecary. The story goes that he became affecionate with his bosses daughter or possibly his wife. Quite suddenly Thomas became ill and just as suddenly died and was buried at St Michael's graveyard in Stone on 16th July 1781. Thomas's favourite donkey made its way to the graveyard and began to scrape away the soil on top of the grave with its hoof, even though Thomas's death was suspicious it would be a full 12 months before an exhumation was ordered. When the body was finally exhumed it was found to be lying face down in the coffin, yet when the body had been placed in the coffin it was in a face up position. Had the Apothecary administered some type of drug to slow down Thomas's life signs to such a point that it would appear as if he had died, only to eventually reawaken and find out that he had been buried alive? No one stood trial for his murder and his remains were taken to St Laurence's church and reburied, his grave was positioned the wrong way round in the hope that this would prevent his ghost from wandering.
Thomas's grave in Rushton Spencer church. Photo by Gary Tacagni.
