Last known "Sin Eater"

**oildrum** · 20th September 2010, 09:57

Spotted on teletext (or whatever its called now

)-

Campaigners have raised £1000 to restore the grave of the last known "Sin Eater" Richard Munsllow, who is buried in Rattlinghope, Shropshire.

Apparently sin eater's were usually poor people paid to eat bread & drink beer or wine over a corpse, with the belief that they would take on the sins of the deceased! The practice was frowned upon by the church & died out in the 19th century.

More info at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryofthewo...R9G8oNpMfVSv6g

**mikejee** · 20th September 2010, 11:14

Don't know if its really died out. The Roman Catholic church still has them . Whenever it commits sins it is always blamed on those that don't agree with them, especially those that condemn them for their immorality. Similarly politicians blame the press for finding out and make the electorate pay for their leaders' sins

**Richie** · 20th September 2010, 19:16

As usual, hot on the MidlandsHeritage movie trail when it comes to postings!

The BBC did a review of the characterisation of our local hero in question:

BBC - Films - review - The Sin Eater.

The BBC also did a feature on the geezer in its regular Sunday morning religious affairs programme "Sunday" (23 May 2010), but the particular broadcast is off the i-player at the moment.

If it turns out the movie when released uncovered any ground-breaking revelations concerning this now internationally-sought celebrity location in our area, you'll all be the first to know!