106 ANCIENT SLAB IN BODMIN CHURCH. 



not resemble the " nuper Uxor " slab. Three monuments, however, 

 of later date, do resemble it very closely in many important par- 

 ticulars ; and there is an old stone corn-measure in the market- 

 house on which appear letters of precisely the same form as some 

 of those on the slab under consideration. The slabs and the 

 measure are dated respectively 1545, 1546, 1548, 1563. The 

 letters and figures upon them are rudely incised, and fully confirm 

 the reading adopted above, of all the letters on the Uxor slab ; 

 the crested top-shortened |j, the curtailed y, the three-minimed ttT, 

 &c., being again met with in positions where they need no explan- 

 ation. The dates 1545 and 156.3 are written in Arabic numerals, 

 quite agreeing with the ... 57 on the Uxor slab, the 5 being of 

 exactly the same shape. Each of the monuments likewise contains 

 within the border legend a cross, with shaft rising from a moulded 

 and initialed base, of the same character as that on the Uxor slab. 

 Moreover, on the slab of 1546 branches of the same form as those 

 on the Uxor slab (except that they terminate in circles charged 

 with the Evangelistic emblems, instead of in quatrefoils) sprout 

 upward from the sides of the cross shaft. Thus it is reasonable 

 to conclude that the slab is of the date 1557. 



No record of burials for that year is to be found amongst the 

 Churchwardens' accounts in the possession of the Corporation, 

 and the Parish Registers were not commenced till the year after. 

 No entries have been made either for 1657, the pages in the 

 Register book being blank at that date, in consequence of the 

 disorder occasioned by the Great Rebellioh. The identification, 

 therefore, of the lady commemorated must rest wholly upon the 

 testimony of the slab fragments. Mr. Maclean, with good reason, 

 considers that she was named " Achym," as the broken remains 

 of the legend form the following words and al>breviations : 



" • • •• nup Vs B • • • • chym que dec •• • • domi • • • • 57" 



(Probably for "... . nuper Uxor B[ernardi (■?)] Achym qu£e 

 decessit .... anno domini 1557"). 



Achym was an old family name in Bodmin. Raffe, son of 

 William Achym, is entered in the Register as baptized in May, 

 1558, and his burial is soon after recorded. The Achyms resided 

 in Bodmin Ijefore that time ; Wm. Achym' s name appearing in 



