 Poetic epitaphs on gravestones were popular at the turn of the 18th century, but generally only for the wealthy and celebrated.A gravestone and a plot in the churchyard of Malmesbury Abbey for any woman, who could not have been a priest or a priest's wife, would have been costly, even without engaging the services of a poet.The identity of the patron who paid for her tombstone and plot remains a mystery, although they may have been donated by the church and vestry.