File:The Haddon Tomb (3968533548).jpg

The Four Poster Bed (* Haddon Tomb, St Mary's Churchyard, Heworth. Listed. Grade II*) Tomb of the Haddon and Makepeace family, which is near the north door of the church. The popular story says, "the children were all burned to death in bed when their house caught fire!". I haven't the remotest idea when, where, or how this story began, though it is old, there is no evidence to support it. What is legible on the tomb gives no indication of anything untoward. It is sad of course. The three children lying asleep under their stone quilt (it looks like a Durham quilt) simply succumbed to one or other of the many diseases which were killers 300 years ago. William, George and their sister, whose name has long been illegible, died between 1711 and 1717. The burial register of Heworth Chapel for that period is lost so we shall not discover the little girl's name. Their father, Joseph Haddon did not long survive his children, dying in 1721 aged 42 years. He was a master mason, which explains his elaborate tomb. "Legend has it that at the stroke of midnight that if you run around the grave of these three children who were burnt alive in there beds, they will come out to play and dance around the tomb"