DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0202
[ 176 ]
SINGULAR CHARACTERS.
^Barbara Snelgrove, more generally known by the
appellation of Granny Bab, died on the 2d of January,
1794, at Barnstaple, in Devonshire, in her 96th year.
Till within a few days of her death she was able to walk
to and from the seat of Lord Fortescue, near 12 miles
from Barnstaple. She had been, and continued till she
was upwards of 94, the most noted poacher in that part
of the country, and frequently boasted of selling to
gentlemen fish taken out of their own ponds. Her coffin
and shroud she had purchased and kept in her apartmen
more than twenty years.
Simeon EUerton, died January 3d, 1799, at Craike,
in the county of Durham, at the advanced age of 104.
He was a noted pedestrian, and was often employed by
gentlemen in the neighbourhood, on commissions to
London, and other places, which he always executed on
foot, with fidelity and diligence. He lived in a neat
stone cottage, of his own building; and what is remark-
able, he had literally carried it upon his head : it being
his practice to bring home from every journey, the most
proper stone he could pick up on the road, until he had
accumulated a sufficient quantity to erect his habitation ;
by which time, although the motive ceased, this practice
had grown so much into habit, that he imagined he could
travel the better for having a weight upon his head, and
he seldom came home without some loading.—If any
person enquired his reason, he used facetiously to answer-
‘‘ Tis to keep my hat on.”
Extraordinary Burials.—The late Mr. Langford
of Balsover, Derbyshire, amongst other eccentric pro-
visions in his will, left three shillings per week for the
maintenance of a favorite little dog; with an express
desire, that on the day of his interment, it might be
clothed
SINGULAR CHARACTERS.
^Barbara Snelgrove, more generally known by the
appellation of Granny Bab, died on the 2d of January,
1794, at Barnstaple, in Devonshire, in her 96th year.
Till within a few days of her death she was able to walk
to and from the seat of Lord Fortescue, near 12 miles
from Barnstaple. She had been, and continued till she
was upwards of 94, the most noted poacher in that part
of the country, and frequently boasted of selling to
gentlemen fish taken out of their own ponds. Her coffin
and shroud she had purchased and kept in her apartmen
more than twenty years.
Simeon EUerton, died January 3d, 1799, at Craike,
in the county of Durham, at the advanced age of 104.
He was a noted pedestrian, and was often employed by
gentlemen in the neighbourhood, on commissions to
London, and other places, which he always executed on
foot, with fidelity and diligence. He lived in a neat
stone cottage, of his own building; and what is remark-
able, he had literally carried it upon his head : it being
his practice to bring home from every journey, the most
proper stone he could pick up on the road, until he had
accumulated a sufficient quantity to erect his habitation ;
by which time, although the motive ceased, this practice
had grown so much into habit, that he imagined he could
travel the better for having a weight upon his head, and
he seldom came home without some loading.—If any
person enquired his reason, he used facetiously to answer-
‘‘ Tis to keep my hat on.”
Extraordinary Burials.—The late Mr. Langford
of Balsover, Derbyshire, amongst other eccentric pro-
visions in his will, left three shillings per week for the
maintenance of a favorite little dog; with an express
desire, that on the day of his interment, it might be
clothed