Wow, you lot have been beavering away
Well, the Flower Pot was advertised for sale or lease in 1838, along with its cottages which are described as all occupied. So the cottages were there. I'm thinking they must have been built in 1814.
William had two children, Charles and Martha. His father was John, and John was a shoemaker. Here's William's will. Can't find when Charles was born but Martha was born in 1810. On the other hand, his illegitimate son would appear to be from the woman he married.
http://jubb.one-name.net/members_data/0069ab/documents//JUBB%2C%20William%2C%20Hopton%2C%20Mirfield%2C%201814%2C%20will%2C%20transcription.pdfNow I'm thinking maybe the word says something like Terrace or Cottage or something, but I can't make anything fit.
I'm not sure asking someone in Mirfield to go look would help, because the stone is a good 10 feet up the wall and this is as good a photo as I could get. However, there's a Mirfield Facebook page so I'll try that.
And yeah, it bugs me too. The inscription isn't centered and the doodle on the left isn't symmetric. I think it was added later.
Okay everybody, thank you for the thought you've put into this. Off to try the Mirfield page!
Cheers,
China