RESTORATION work on the historic Watchmaker's Tomb at St Petroc's Church, Lydford, has been boosted by a generous donation from one of the deceased's direct descendants.

The restoration work will allow visitors to enjoy the clever epitaph written for watchmaker George Routleigh which is inscribed on the 199-year-old tomb.

George Routleigh, died in 1802, his daughter Mary having married Thomas Taverner in 1799. The generous donor, Stephen Taverner, is a direct descendant of one of their sons.

The poor state of the tomb came to Stephen's attention at his home in London when by chance he visited the Lydford Information web-site, http://www.lydford.co.uk">www.lydford.co.uk.

He said: 'I went to the website and dug a little deeper and found the parish council meeting minutes. I contacted them and asked what was going on, then I offered to help.

'It is our family history and heritage. I'm just glad they are able to restore and preserve this important monument.'

Stephen, who works in London in the music industry, is donating £1,000 towards the restoration work.

He remembers the church and tomb at Lydford from childhood visits to see family graves with his father. Stephen said he hoped to visit Lydford with his parents for the mounting of the restored top of the tomb, which is expected to take place next spring — it would be the first visit he has made to Lydford in five or six years.

'Hopefully, I will be able to come, I would like to see what they have done,' he said.

The work is needed to stop further deterioration of the slate top-slab of the tomb. Exposure to almost 200 years of weather has made the epitath virtually unreadable.

The restoration appeal is well on its way to its target of approximately £5,000 to meet the expensive cost of the required work.

The slate tomb top-slab was taken to Bristol at the end of November, where it is being left to completely dry out in the care of the McNeilage Conservation company. It will then be cleaned and stabilised before its lettering is restored. The inscribed slab is expected to return to Lydford in late spring next year — 2002 is the 200th anniversary of the death of George Routleigh.

The restored slab is likely to be wall-mounted inside the church, to protect it from the effects of weathering. A new simple slab would then be placed on the tomb itself, sited outside the church's south porch with a plaque stating that the original watchmaker's epitaph can be seen inside.

The epitaph on the watchmaker's tombstone is a fascinating and witty one, equating his profession with his life.

The restoration work has been made possible by a large fund-raising effort organised by Barbara Weeks, Lydford churchwarden. She said the final cost of the project was expected to be between £4,000 and £5,000.

In addition to Mr Taverner's donation, the fund has received grants from Dartmoor National Park Authority, the St Andrew's Conservation Trust, and other charities and individuals.

'What we really needed to do was get the original slate indoors rather than left outside for another winter, it is good we have been able to do that, we are very pleased,' she said.

An alternative proposal to produce a resin facsimile model of the tombstone to place outside the church in the stone's original site has been dismissed because of the great expense of such a process.

Mrs Weeks said Lydford Parochial Church Council would be interested to know whether there are any other descendants of George Routleigh still alive and whether any of his clocks still exist in addition to the one and only known example, a grandfather clock belonging to a Tavistock family.