AN EIGHT-year-old girl has uncovered a piece of Falstone history during a weed and clean day at St Peter’s Church.

Amy Cowan, who is the goddaughter of churchwarden Jill Swaile, came across a preserved gravestone from 1730 while chopping down some overgrown hedges.

Jill said: “This is one of the oldest gravestones we have come across in our graveyard, and it has the most magnificent carving of a woman on the back which has been perfectly preserved, apart from some damage to her nose.

“Amy was over the moon to have uncovered some history.

“She finds everything to do with the church and its history very interesting, so she was delighted.

“Some of her ancestors are from the North Tyne Valley, so of course it’s her history too.”

Jill and her husband, Alan, attended a talk at St Andrew’s Church in Corbridge with historian John Grundy, who said that apart from Alwinton, St Peter’s has some of the best examples of preserved gravestones in Northumberland.

While some of the writing on the gravestone is hard to read, it is possible to make out that it belongs to late farmer John Routledge, who died on February 27, 1730, his wife, who died on April 7, 1733, and William Telfer, who died on May 20, 1750.

Burial records only go back as far as 1750, so Jill is unable to find out what John’s wife was called, but she is planning to create a map of the graveyard so people can understand more about who is buried there.

Jill added: “It’s great that the heritage of the North Tyne Valley has been so well preserved.

“It allows us to learn more about our local area and the people who lived here.”