Not exactly new laid...

As a poultry keeper, these inscriptions on a series of foundation stones set in the wall of Capel Hermon always make me smile. Four (one is out of sight) local ladies, the wives or daughters of town worthies, were given the honour of 'laying' the stones at the time of the chapel's rebuilding in 1906.

They must have been good layers, as we say about certain breeds of chicken. I always imagine each stone with a little ledge above it displaying a prize-winning egg, as laid by Eleanor, Lena and Miss George, Chemist. Good names for my next set of hens.