A Record of Ann Rosser of Earlswood

Source – Gwent Archives MISC. MSS. 1437.

(as written by Aunt Bessie Cooper)
Ann Rosser was born in Earlswood in 1746. She married a man named Lewis, her maiden name also her husbands Christian name is not known. She was left a widow with three children, one girl and two boys. Sometime afterwards she married again to John Rosser. They lived in Earlswood in a thatched cottage in the valley near the brook.
She was converted when John Wesley preached in Devauden. Soon afterwards she started a Society there, she was the first Methodist in the district of Earlswood and Shirenewton. Preaching services were held in her cottage, also Society and Class Meetings, and Prayer Meetings.
A fund was started to build a Chapel. She walked many miles to collect money for the fund, and made at least three journeys to Bristol and back, only she crossed the Severn in the Ferry boat at the Passage. She called at every house far and near in Earlswood and Shirenewton.
A small piece of ground was bought for a graveyard, and on which to build a Chapel. Her daughter died before the Chapel was built, and she was buried in the little graveyard, the first burial there. When the Chapel was built, it was built over her grave, which is under the floor near the pulpit.
It is said that Ann Rosser herself carried a lot of the stone for the building from the quarries to the Chapel yard. At last the Chapel was opened. Ann and John Rosser continued to work for the Methodist Society to the end of their lives.
On March 11th 1830 John Rosser was ill in the night. His wife got up and lit a candle to attend to him, and accidentally set fire to the thatched roof cottage, which quickly burnt out. The two old people only escaped with their lives, they lost everything they possessed. John Rosser died soon afterwards, his wife only lived two years after him. The cottage and garden is there in ruins now, as it was left after the fire 117 years ago.
Ann Rosser died, and was buried close to the Chapel wall. A stone was placed at the head of her grave, it was broken down some years after, and it was then fixed up on the Chapel wall, just over her grave, and is still there today.
The inscription on the stone reads :-
Ann Rosser, died January 2nd. 1832. Aged 84 years.
We write her Name on this Plain Stone Because to
Memory dear, but in the Book of Life it Shines Far
more devinely clear.
The remains of the stone is still at the head of the grave, and can be easily felt in the grass close to the wall.

As this document was written by “Aunt Bessie Cooper” it would have been in the possession of a family member and passed on to Gwent Archives. The family member who held this document is unknown to me. The document is not dated but Elizabeth Cooper refers to the fire as having been 117 years ago and that it was in 1830 (an incorrect date) so it was probably penned in 1947 when Elizabeth would have been 93 years of age.

Elizabeth Cooper quotes an incorrect date for the fire and says that John Rosser died shortly thereafter and that Ann died two years later. The Monmouthshire “Merlin” gives a different account. I would have thought that the newspaper article, which is contemporary, would be the correct source of information on the result of the fire. The article on the fire can be reached from the “Home” page.

There is a ruin on Chapel Farm with co-ordinates on Google Earth as 51 degrees 38 minutes 58.01 seconds North and 2 degrees 47 minutes 46.16 seconds West. This is believed by locals to be the ruins of the burnt out cottage of Ann and John Rosser.

It is probably not true that Ann was converted at Devauden. Her conversion is discussed on my “Conversion” page which can be reached from the “Home” page.