William Bramwell's Grave (1818)
"On Sunday the sixteenth of August, multitudes from all parts of the country repaired to Westgate Hill to witness the funeral ceremony of their beloved friend and pastor. Several aged people came from some of the villages beyond Sheffield, and others from places equally distant.
"Mr Highfield preached in the area adjoining the chapel, to an overwhelming congregation, from Matthew, xxiv, 44, ‘Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.' The body was then committed to the silent grave, amidst the sincere lamentations of many thousands present. Immediately afterwards, Mr Nelson and Dr Taft delivered very solemn and appropriate addresses to the deeply affected multitude.
"This solemn event was improved, the same Sunday evening, in all the three Methodist chapels in Leeds, and in many of the adjoining circuits; and on the fourteenth of September, a funeral sermon was preached by Mr William Dawson, in the area in front of Mr Sigston's school, and near the place where Mr Bramwell died. Nearly ten thousand persons were assembled that afternoon and listened with almost breathless attention to the admirable discourse of this engaging preacher.
"A plain tablet, bearing the following neat and unassuming inscription, has been erected to his memory in the burial ground at Westgate Hill:
HERE LIETH WHAT WAS EARTHLY
Of the venerable
WILLIAM BRAMWELL,
A chosen, approved, and valiant minister of Christ,
Who died August 13, A. D. 1818, aged 59.
Stranger! when thou approachest this shrine
Consecrated to his memory
By an afflicted family.
May his ashes still proclaim, what he lived
To publish,
‘Prepare to meet thy God.' "
From, ‘Memoir of the Life and Ministry of William Bramwell, by James Sigston, published in 1836, p328-30.
Additional Information
This is the view from the road of the graveyard, The graveyard is closed and overgrown. If you walk over the grass towards the gap in the trees in the distance you will walk past the graveyard on your right. You will come to a small path which leads off to the right behind the graveyard. As you walk along the path you will soon see a gap in the wall. Go through the gap and go immediately to the right-hand wall and you will find Bramwell's grave. It is the first grave you will see.