Tiger victim's 18th Century headstone restored in Malmesbury
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The 18th Century headstone of Hannah Twynnoy has been restored following a campaign in Malmesbury.

A 300-year-old gravestone commemorating a woman who was mauled to death by a tiger has been restored.

Hannah Twynnoy was living in Malmesbury in the 18th Century when the animal, thought to have been part of a travelling menagerie housed in a pub yard, escaped and attacked her.

Her gruesome death, aged just 33, has attracted visitors to her grave in the grounds of Malmesbury Abbey ever since.

The inscription on her headstone had become so illegible that, prompted by a local campaign, masonry restorers were brought in to spruce it up.

Hannah Twynnoy was working as a servant in the White Lion Inn when she died on 23 October 1703.

Believed to be the first person to be killed by a tiger in England, the exact nature of her death is unknown as nothing was written about it until about 100 years later.

However, according to local history, the pub accommodated wild beasts for exhibition, one of which was a tiger.

Despite being told regularly not to tease the animals, it is believed that Hannah taunted the tiger, which lunged at her, pulled its fixing from the wall and “tore her to pieces”.

  • vaguerant
    15•2 months ago

    Despite being told regularly not to tease the animals, it is believed that Hannah taunted the tiger, which lunged at her, pulled its fixing from the wall and “tore her to pieces”.

    I gotta squint at this last part. Did this explanation come from management? “No, you don’t understand, it was really the woman’s fault that the caged wild animal we kept in a pub attacked. We’re actually good and normal for doing this.”

  • DestideEnglish
    10•2 months ago

    This is why you should only invite them to tea. They get right lairy after a couple of pints

  • @theatomictruth
    8•2 months ago

    I love old gravestones, I wish things like winged skulls and whimsical poems were still in fashion.