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Other Vaults found during Sonning Church's Restoration (1852) There
are no less than five other vaults in the Church: one of these we came
upon unexpectedly in the middle of the South Chancel Aisle, and strange to
say, we could never make out to whom it had belonged. There was no whole
coffin in it, but only a few bones, and coffin handles. The other vaults
are those of Lord Stowell, Mr. Golding, Mr. Knyvett, and Mr. Hubbard, a
former Vicar. There are in addition to these, several brick graves, most
of which had to be opened, and better secured. One grave that we came upon
was of some interest; it contained a coffin with this inscription,
"George Jefferies, Esq., Lieutenant in General Wade's Regiment of
Horse, died 1743." This takes us back to the Great Scottish
Rebellion, which ended in the battle of Colloden in 1745, after which
General Wade was left in Scotland, to overawe the Highlanders; and he is
chiefly remembered for the military roads which he constructed for the
first time across the Highlands, though perhaps more for the ridiculous
lines which someone wrote in praise of them : "Had
you but seen these roads, before
they were made, From Hugh Pearson’s “Memorials of the Church and Parish of Sonning” (1890)
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