THE 50th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral will be marked across Oxfordshire tomorrow.

But most people who visit his grave in St Martin’s Church in Bladon probably do not realise the man who carved his gravestone is responsible for memorials to many more of the county’s great and good.

Stone-carver Bil Brown has been perfecting his craft since he was just 15-years-old when he started to practise on bits of cast-off stone.

In the years since, the 81-year-old has carved the gravestones of Churchill and his wife Lady Clementine, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and the 10th Duke of Marlborough.

He also carved a memorial for James Bond creator Ian Fleming, who spent five years of his childhood near Wallingford.

When The Queen Mother passed away in 2002, Mr Brown was asked to carve the memorial above her vault at Windsor Castle.

The father-of-two said: “You get a real sense of satisfaction knowing the memorials and gravestones will be around forever, and that is really good.

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“At the time when I did CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien’s graves it was just work I had to do. I did not know much about them at all.

“It was only afterwards that I really realised the significance of it.”

Mr Brown started his career at stone carvers Axtell and Perry after being evacuated to Eynsham from London’s East End during the Second World War.

He had branched out on his own by the time his work caught the eye of the Churchill family after Lady Clementine’s death.

He was commissioned to carve an intricate gravestone with raised letters for both Sir Winston and his wife when she was buried with him, replacing the original one which had been on the wartime leader’s resting place.

He said: “Sir Winston’s daughter Mary Soames came and saw me while I was doing it and gave it the go-ahead.

“How long it takes to carve a gravestone varies. It takes me about three days or so to carve one with sunken letters but it’s longer for ones like Churchill’s.”

Mr Brown, who has been married to wife Rita for 55 years, still spends his days with his hammer and chisel.

He said: “My eyesight is going a bit bad now but I still enjoy it.”

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