Elizabeth Conibeer Tombstone
In Memory of Mrs Elizabeth Conibeer aged eighty-five years and her two daughters Anne aged forty-five and Sarah forty-three who was all Inhumanely Murdered in the Day of the Fith of January 1773 In their House at Woodford in this parish.Context & sources
Found via a search of Historic England's own listings for the word 'murdered'. On 5 January 1773, 85-year-old widow Elizabeth Conibeer and her two daughters, Anne (45) and Sarah (43), were all killed together at their home, Court Cottage, Woodford, in the parish of Monksilver, Somerset (Court Cottage is itself separately Grade-listed). Nobody was ever caught or convicted, and the case remains formally unsolved more than 250 years on. Local rumour later connected the family to witchcraft, and the grave is known locally as 'the Witches' Grave' - it isn't clear from sources checked here whether that association predates or postdates the murders. A local Somerset author, A M Gould, has written about the case; a modern piece by 'Extours' also covers it as 'A Forgotten & Mysterious Somerset Murder'. The tombstone itself is Grade II listed (List Entry 1057565).
Behind a paywall
- A M Gould (Somerset author), Facebook post on the case, spells the name 'Connibeer'/'Coneybear' and adds detail on Court Cottage and contemporary newspaper reports - not read in full here.
- 'A Forgotten & Mysterious Somerset Murder In 1773' by Extours (Facebook video, 31 May 2026) - not viewed here.
Needs an in-person visit
- Somerset Heritage Centre / county assize records for 1773 - no contemporary trial or inquest record has been traced online; the case is reported everywhere as unsolved, but the original investigation record (if it survives) has not been located.
- Town
- Monksilver
- County
- Somerset
- Country
- England
- Coordinates
- 51.1339, -3.3722
- Year
- 1773
- Condition
- Legible
Know something we don't?
Submit a correction, an extra detail, or a photo for this record. Reviewed by hand before it's applied.