Greasley - St Mary's
Church
w/e 07 July
2002
Update 24 March 2013
The images on this page were captured in 2002 but the text has
now been revised as I have been informed that the Tea Rooms,
a private business that hired part of the Church Hall and operated
from there, ceased trading in December 2011. Please note there
are no longer any Tea Rooms operating from here.
If you're ever in the Eastwood/Moorgreen area of Nottinghamshire
with an hour to spare, you could do far worse than pull off the
road into this car park at Greasley. The building on the left
is the Church Hall.
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Seen here from the churchyard, the Hall is an integral part of
church life and is also available as a venue for community events,
clubs, groups and other private meetings and celebrations.
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The Church Hall stands alongside some private residences in the
shadow of the Anglican church St Mary's, Greasley (website).
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Although situated in the heart of England, St Mary's Church has
several links with historical seafaring figures.
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A church has stood on this site for over a thousand years although
much of the main body of the present building dates from the
nineteenth century. The parish records of 1603 however record
the mariage of John Robinson, Pastor to the Pilgrim Fathers who
gave a farewell address to the Fathers before they set sail on
the Mayflower.
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Among several interesting gravestones in the churchyard is this
one for Benjamin Drawater who was ship's surgeon to Captain Cook.
One of the two plaques contains a crude map of the world showing
Cook's route and the other bears this inscription.
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"Underneath lies the mortal remains
of Benj. Drawater, gentleman of Mansfield, late of Eastwood who
suddenly departed this life  on
the 2nd of June 1815 in the 88th year of his age. In his professional
duty he had accompanied the great circumnavigator Cook in the
years 1772-1776. His virtues were commendable and exemplary and
were highly esteemed by his friends and relations and his surviving
family. He was a pious and good Christian. He lived respected
and died lamented"
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Click "A Trip
up the Tower" for more from Greasley Church.
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