In a message dated 05/01/2010 10:56:18 GMT Standard Time, alan.hill@clear.net.nz writes: I'd love to hear some theories which might help solve the mystery. Theories, yes, but not definite solutions! My thoughts on reading your query were centred on the chuirch at Corsenside. I am not sure what you mean by a "sealed road", but that at Corsenside is approached off the A68, north of West Woodburn, by a gated farm track whiich may well have been unsurfaced in the not-too-distant past - I'm not even certain whether it is surfaced today. At the end of the track is (a) the church and (b) a small cottage. At least that is how I remember it on my only visit, in the 1970s when I went to record the pre-1851 MIs for the NDFHS, with Don Mason. The church was not disused, as I remember, but it was probably attached to some other parish or group of parishes, services being held there perhaps monthly, and so, although not locked, it was dark and dusty. As for your "pirate's grave", did the inscription actually say the occupant of the grave had been a pirate? Given that piracy was a criminal act, punishable by death, I doubt whether any clergyman would have allowed it, even in as remote a church as Corsenside. Many churchyards, however, do have what is shown to visitors as "a pirate's grave", usually because it includes a carving of a skull and crossed bones. However, that is only one of several symbols of death which were often put onto gravestones in order to get a message across, even to illiterate parishioners. As I say, don't take any of this as definitely saying "it was Corsenside", but do bear in mind that it might have been! Geoff Nicholson

Further to Geoff's reponse, there's a picture of Corsenside, St. Cuthbert, at http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Corsenside/Corsenside.html. Does it look familiar, Alan? Vivienne Toronto, Canada ----- Original Message ----- From: <negenealogy@aol.com> To: <northumbria@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 7:06 AM Subject: Re: [NMB] Old Graves > > In a message dated 05/01/2010 10:56:18 GMT Standard Time, > alan.hill@clear.net.nz writes: >