William Smith minister

Reverend William Smith died aged 28 from the plague in 1647, possibly from Typhoid Fever. He was buried at a site that has become known as the Prophet's Grave, Minister's Grave or Smith's Grave (NS 2125 6226) in the Brisbane Glen near Largs, North Ayrshire, Scotland. Upon his deathbed William Smith prophesied that if the two holly trees growing at his grave were prevented from touching then the plague or pestilence would never return to the parish of Largs. The grave site now consists of a recumbent stone standing on stone blocks near the Middleton Burn that runs down to the Noddsdale Water. The original gravestone bore the following Latin inscription: "Buried in this tomb lie an old man and an man at the time a youth – young in years in piety. By the divine spirit I have seen divine truths, and have seen thundering with the mind of thundering. There cleaved to my feelings and words reproach of wicked deeds." In 1942 Revd Baxter expressed a desire to have the grave restored and enhanced.