deeds Alfred did not own the land. Indeed it had been
falsely sold to him by auctioneers Richard Pettit and
Samuel Hills at a Bargain & Sale Fair in September 1840.
Soon after the sale, the land was snatched back by
Executor’s acting for the late Thomas Fitch who realised
that the land was part of their late client’s estate. When the
disputed land came up for sale again, it was bought by one
Mary Inch whose daughter subsequently sold it to Foster.

condition that a written agreement was given that they would
not   erect  any   tombstone  until  the   design  had   first   been

submitted  and met with his approval.  The  Rector states  that
his object was to prevent any disputes arising  afterwards.  As
the  sons  refused  to  give  the  written  guarantee,  Mr  Foster

objected to the burial taking place, and Mrs. Vial was interred
in Belchamp Otten churchyard.

The matter rested for a few months, until Mr. Simon Quy Vial
and  Mr.Pratt  Vial,  the two  sons,  applied  at  the Chancellors

 The younger Viall’s perhaps had good cause to think
that the farm land would be leased to them but instead the
Rector leased it to a William Chinery. This may have been
nothing more than a simple business transaction but it may
have upset the Viall family enough to give them reason to
spite Foster. Though this connection is a mild one, it is
nothing to that of the extraordinary tale of what happened
after Samuel Viall died in 1855. The following is a blow-by-
blow account of the peculiar story of the burial as told by
the Haverhill Echo:

Court of the Diocese of Rochester, for a faculty to remove the
body of the late Mr. Vial from Foxearth to Otten Belchamp.

On  Wednesday  morning  a  number  of  men  from  adjoining
parishes assembled at Foxearth, and remained there until two
o'clock, when  Mr  Jasper Cardinall of Halstead, solicitor for

Messrs Vial, arrived with the faculty. A hearse was also there,
with some stonemasons from Messrs Keogh's yard at Sudbury,
and  labourers  to  help  disinter  the  coffin.  The  gate  of  the

churchyard was locked  and the men remained outside  on  the
meadow.    Mr    Cardinall    read    the    legal    document    and
demanded the body.

 It  appears  that  the  late  Samuel  Vial,  who  was  a  wealthy
Landowner  and  Farmer,  residing  in  the  adjoining  parish  of

The   Rector  refused   on  the  ground  that  the  faculty  being
invalid;  and  said  that  otherwise  he  had  no  interest  in  the
matter, other than to protect the interests of his parishioners,

Cavendish, died on 23rd. of Sept. 1855, then leaving two sons
and  a  daughter  (married),  and it  is  alleged  on  one side,  but

contradicted on the other, that on his death bed he desired to
be buried in Foxearth Churchyard, but whether so or not, he
was buried there, and soon after a dispute arose between the

especially  Mrs.  Ewer,  a  parishioner,  a  daughter  of  the  late
Mr.  Vial,  who  as  well  as  her  children  wished  the  body  to
remain at Foxearth. Mr Simon Vial denied that his father had
expressed a desire before his death to be buried there.

deceased's  friends  and  the  Rector  (Rev  John  Foster)  with
reference  to  a  tombstone or memorial  to be  erected,  as  they
wished to erect over his remains.

Mr Cardinall made a  speech  in which  he  alluded  to  the  un-
Christian  and  uncharitable  nature  of  Mr  Foster's  refusal  to
permit  the  disinterment  of  the  body  to  where  it  might  lie

The  incumbent  states  that   the  proposed  monument  was  a
column   surmounted   by   a   wheat   sheaf,   the   whole   to   be
surrounded    by    a    railing,    and    he    therefore    objected,

alongside his wife. At one time there was quite an uproar, and
it was feared that the men would proceed to take violent steps
to remove the body, but Mr Cardinal allayed the storm, and a

considering   it   unsuitable;   he   was   then   threatened   with
proceedings in the ecclesiastical court, and a correspondence
ensued, but ultimately a simple tombstone was erected.

portion   of   the   crowd,  which   had   increased   to   some   two
hundred   people  who  vented  their  feelings  in  giving  three

When the late Mrs Vial died, her sons wished her to be buried
alongside their father, to this Mr. Foster consented, although
she  was   not  a   parishioner   at  the   time  of   her   death,  on

groans for the Rector, and three cheers for Mr Cardinall and
Messrs Vial.