Show 0 cabin it cf 3 old timo practice was wa until recent ly IY indulged in at least one place in the united kingdom there Is a churchyard in the ilor ough of st marylebone Maryl ebone london in which a tombstone Is pointed oui out to visitors as the one on which Hogart hs idle apprentice threw dice attention has just been called to the fact that this practice of gambling on tombstones has come down to the present day in at least one graveyard in the united kingdom A lawsuit just decided has stopped the practice in the churchyard ot of dungarvan Dun garvan an irish village where somo some of the inhabitants were in the habit of playing cards on the slabs slab placed over graves and of dancing to the music of an accordion the representative resen tati ve church body was wag the complainant nant in the ease case I 1 sought and obtained an injunction against sixteen persons restraining them from tres trea passing upon the burial ground and premises adjacent to the church of 0 st mary the master of rolls who heard the case held that this privilege was wag ono one of permission and not a right and that a churchyard was wag dedicated to the service of god and not to the recreation of man in the days before the reformation authorities say the parish churchyard was used as a public playground games and revels were common commonly lr held there on sundays and holidays at whitsuntide there WM was a sort ot of c church fair held in graveyards at alch which ale brewed by the church wardens was served while dice throwing card playing and bowls were permitted cockfighting cock fighting in churchyards did not until the eighteenth century therele Th ereIs a story told that a wealthy man tarrant a village of ordered that a flat tombstone large enough to enable the boys to play marbles on it should be placed over his bis grave |