Cordelia Boydell was born in 1787 to the famous painter-publisher Josiah. Her sister Mary Ann married Jean’s 3-greats grandfather so she was the aunt of the Sophia who was married in Weymouth. Cordelia had moved to live in the Royal Crescent there and Mary Ann came to live nearby in Gloucester Row as a widow (which explains Sophia’s wedding church). Perhaps the sisters also enjoyed worshipping or at least visiting the picturesque country church at Preston cum Sutton Poyntz (which village is now even more picturesquely rebuilt after a devastating fire). The church was warm and quiet (though a Messy Church display bespeaks livelier moments too), and its gems for me were its stained glass, a Kempe hiding in the bell-tower and two more modern pieces, one showing scenes from Pilgrim’s Progress, and the other commemorating the sad loss of Constance Conway aged 13 shown holding music from Mendelssohn’s E minor prelude which was about to play in a school function. Certainly it was there that Cordelia chose to be buried, though the gravestones are badly eroded and we didn’t spot hers on this visit. David Thomson | October 23, 2019 at 6:43 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: https://wp.me/poSLL-3Pt |