On a visit this autumn with some friends to the picturesque village and
church of Horsted-Keynes, Sussex, our attention was forcibly arrested by
the appearance of two large pavement slabs, inserted in an erect position
on the external face of the south wall of the chancel. They proved to be
those which once had covered and protected the grave of the good Archbishop
Leighton, who passed the latter years of his life in that parish, and that
of Sir Ellis Leighton, his brother. On inquiry, it appeared that their
remains had been deposited within a small chapel on the south side of the
chancel, the burial-place of the Lightmaker family, of Broadhurst, in the
parish of Horsted. The archbishop retired thither in 1674, and resided with
his only sister, Saphira, widow of Mr. Edward Lightmaker. Broadhurst, it
may be observed, is sometimes incorrectly mentioned by the biographers of
Archbishop Leighton as a parish; it is an ancient mansion, the residence
formerly of the Lightmakers, and situated about a mile north of the village
of Horsted. There it was that Leighton made his will, in February, 1683;
but his death occurred, it will be remembered, in singular accordance with
his desire often expressed, at an inn, the Bell, in Warwick Lane, London.
The small chapel adjacent to the chancel, and opening into it by an arch
now walled up, had for some time, as I believe, been used as a school-room;
more recently, however, either through its becoming out of repair, or from
some other cause, the little structure was demolished. The large slabs
which covered the tombs of the good prelate and his brother were taken up
and fixed against the adjoining wall. The turf now covers the space thus
thrown into the open churchyard; nothing remains to mark the position of
the graves, which in all probability, ere many years elapse, will be
disturbed through ignorance or heedlessness, and the ashes of Leighton
scattered to the winds.
In times when special respect has been shown to the tombs of worthies of
bygone times, with the recent recollection also of what has been so well
carried out by MR. MARKLAND in regard to the grave of Bishop Ken, shall we
not make an effort to preserve from desecration and oblivion the
resting-place of one so eminent as Leighton for his learning and piety, so
worthy to be held in honoured remembrance for his high principles and his
consistent conduct in an evil age?