Shadows

A family tragedy is commemorated on a gravestone in the churchyard at Nevern in north Pembrokeshire. Anna Letitia and George the infant children of the vicar died of unspecified causes in the year 1794.

They tasted of Life's bitter cup
Refused to drink the potion up
But turned their little heads aside
Disgusted with the taste - and died.

Their parents and sister Easter are buried here too.

Estimates of infant mortality in early modern Britain suggest that between 200 and 400 children died in their first year mainly from dysentery, scarlatina, whooping cough, influenza, smallpox, pneumonia and unidentifiable 'fevers'.

It was a warm but blowy day that started off wet but improved during the afternoon, hence the sharp shadows on the slate slab.