Person:Sarah Castledine (1)

Sarah Castledine's origins have yet to be established. If the age quoted at her burial is correct then she was born around 1753. Her first confirmed sighting is on 22nd October 1781 when she was married at Bottesford in Leicestershire to a labourer named William Fernihough. She must have been heavily pregnant when they married; their first daughter was baptised the following month. Between 1781 and 1796 Sarah and William had six children baptised at Bottesford. The youngest two were twins, and sadly one of the twins died as a baby.

It would appear that Sarah and William's children all moved away from Bottesford; none of them seem to have married or died there. Their eldest daughter Elizabeth moved to East Stoke in Nottinghamshire where she married in 1800, with Sarah's first known grandchild born there in 1801. Sarah's son Thomas was married at Barnby in the Willows (also in Nottinghamshire) in 1812.

Sarah and William seem to have stayed in Bottesford. Sarah died on 3rd October 1830 when she was suffocated after part of the ceiling and roof of her house at Bottesford collapsed on her and William as they slept. She was said to be 77 years old. They had been married for nearly 49 years. William survived her by seven years.

1.   Redmile, Leicestershire, England. Parish Registers (Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office).

   1754 / Oct[obe]r 4th Sarah Daughter of Joseph & Eliz[abe]th Castledine baptized

   This baptism seems plausible, being at about the right time and in the neighbouring village to where Elizabeth married. Further work needed to be confident.

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Church of England. Parish Church of Bottesford (Leicestershire). Parish registers, 1563-1876. (Leciester: Leicestershire Record Office).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Bottesford in the County of Leicester in the Year 1830
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   396	Sarah Farney	Bottesford	5th Oct[obe]r	77 [1752/3]	Geo[rge] Lawton, Curate

   Whilst Sarah's surname is given as Farney rather than Fernihough, there are no other 'Farney' entries in the Bottesford registers, whilst there is no other explanation for what happened to Sarah wife of William Fernihough.

3. ↑ Stamford Mercury, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 3, Friday 8 Oct 1830.

   Another inquest was held before the same coroner on Monday at Bottesford, on the body of Sarah Farney, who, with her husband, both elderly people, was in bed, about 4 o'clock on the preceding morning, when the ceiling of the room gave way, and, with part of the roof, fell in upon them. He got up for assistance, and upon removing the rubbish found his wife dead. - Verdict, died from suffocation.

4.   Leicester Herald, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 2, 13 Oct 1830.

   On Saturday night an accident occoured [sic] at Bottesford near Belvoir, which proved fatal. A very old couple, of the name of Farney, who had for many years lived in the house where the accident occurred, had retired to bed, when, about midnight, a cracking was heard, and before the old man could wake his wife, the beams gave way and the roof fell, carrying all with it. A beam falling across the old man's legs, supported a part of the building, giving him the providential opportunity of making his escape. He made every effort to extricate his wife but in vain: death had closed her career. The old man had been warned of its state, but his reply was, "it will last as long as we shall."