The Roes were a great family of clerks at Bakewell, and the two members who occupied that office at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century seem to have been endowed with good voices, and with a devoted attachment to the church and its monuments. Samuel Roe had the honour of being mentioned in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, and receives well-deserved praise for his care of the fabric of Bakewell Church, and his epitaph is given, which runs as follows: To The memory of SAMUEL ROE Clerk of the Parish Church of Bakewell, which office he filled thirty-five years with credit to himself and satisfaction to the inhabitants. His natural powers of voice, in clearness, strength, and sweetness were altogether unequalled. He died October 31st, 1792 Aged 70 years The correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ wrote thus of this faithful clerk: "Mr. Urban, "It was with much concern that I read the epitaph upon Mr. Roe in your last volume, page 1192. Upon a little tour which I made in Derbyshire in 1789, I met with that worthy and very intelligent man at Bakewell, and in the course of my antiquarian researches there, derived no inconsiderable assistance from his zeal and civility. If he did not possess the learning of his namesake, your old and valuable correspondent[45], I will venture to declare that he was not less influenced by a love and veneration for antiquity, many proofs of which he had given by his care and attention to the monuments of the church which were committed to his charge; for he united the characters of sexton, clerk, singing-master, will-maker, and schoolmaster. Finding that I was quite alone, he requested permission to wait upon me at the inn in the evening, urging as a reason for this request that he must be exceedingly gratified by the conversation of a gentleman who could read the characters upon the monument of Vernon, the founder of Haddon House, a treat he had not met with for many years. After a very pleasant gossip we parted, but not till my honest friend had, after some apparent struggle, begged of me to indulge him with my name." [Footnote 45: T. Row stands for T_he_ R_ector_ O_f_ W_hittington_, the Rev. Samuel Pegge. cf. _Curious Epitaphs_, by W. Andrews, p. 124.] To this worthy clerk's care is due the preservation of the Vernon and other monuments in Bakewell Church. Mr. Andrews tells us that "in some instances he placed a wooden framework to keep off the rough hands and rougher knives of the boys and young men of the congregation. He also watched with special care the Wenderley tomb, and even took careful rubbings of the inscriptions[46]." [Footnote 46: W. Andrews, _Curious Epitaphs_, p. 124.]