Gravestones, Tombs & Memorials Read Online Free
Author: Trevor Yorke
Tags: Gravestones Tombs and Memorials
look like a pair of ears.
FIG 2.9: A Rococo-style gravestone with labels of period features.
Gravestones in this period were still for the more affluent members of the community; mainly farmers, vicars, merchants, and professionals. Some chose plain slabs with a simple list of names and dates of the deceased for family graves with later burials added to the list. More expensive types had symbols carved around the head, many taking up the whole top third of the stone. Those from the late 17th and through to the second half of the 18th century reflect the morbid fascination with time and death, with skulls and crossbones, hourglasses and winged cherubsâ heads deeply carved in relief (the area around cut away so the pattern stands proud) or incised (the design directly cut into the stone). During the 18th and early 19th century wide slabs with two panels carved side by side (and occasionally four) intended for husbands and wives or close family members were very popular. Short footstones marking the other end of the grave were frequently used although they rarely survive today and, where they do, have often been resited up against the headstone. Body or coffin stones (see Fig 1.11 ) which covered the grave between these stones were also used in some parts of the country.
FIG 2.10: Many 18th-century gravestones would have been a plain slab with a square, shallow arch or profiled top and a list of family members below. For those with a little more to spend a carved upper section could be added. A short footstone repeating the initials and date of passing was also common although most have been removed or resited. (Originally it would have been on the other side of the headstone at the foot of the grave).
FIG 2.11: In most areas there were gravestones of unique or local style as in this example from Derbyshire!
FIG 2.12: It was common for gravestones to be divided into three sections with a decorative feature in the upper third, the facts of the deceased below and an epitaph at the bottom.
FIG 2.13: The head of the finest 18th-century gravestones was usually arched or had a profile similar to contemporary chair backs and was filled with images of death (skulls) and resurrection (angels).
FIG 2.14: Double-panelled gravestones for husbands and wives or family members were common up to the early 19th century. Many have a blank side, making you wonder if the other half was not as devoted as the deceased believed!
Early 19th-century Gravestones
In the last decades of the 18th century there was a distinctive shift in the type of symbols and decoration used on memorials. Carving became more delicate and shallow and the old morbid themes of death and time were gradually replaced by Classical imagery. Mourning female figures, weeping trees, full-length angels and urns were popular images which featured on stones; in some cases well into the Victorian period although by then they were generally confined to a smaller section at the top. In the early 19th century the Greek Revival style became influential upon gravestone design. The profile at the top was simplified with either a square, shallow triangle or arch being common forms. Decoration like swags, garlands and draped fabric remained popular and new ones with more geometric forms like Greek key were also used. Large decorated words or phrases like âSacredâ and âIn Memoryâ were prominent towards the top of many stones and the inscriptions below became more emotional and sentimental.
FIG 2.15: A distinctive style popular in the first half of the 19th century was the Greek Revival. It was plain and rather austere with rectangular or tapered sides and a simple geometric profile to the top as in these, with a low triangle or pediment. Greek key decoration as in the corners of the lower example was often used.
FIG 2.16: Cast-iron had been used for gravestones in Kent and in the area around Ironbridge, but in the 19th century small foundries mass
FIG 2.9: A Rococo-style gravestone with labels of period features.
Gravestones in this period were still for the more affluent members of the community; mainly farmers, vicars, merchants, and professionals. Some chose plain slabs with a simple list of names and dates of the deceased for family graves with later burials added to the list. More expensive types had symbols carved around the head, many taking up the whole top third of the stone. Those from the late 17th and through to the second half of the 18th century reflect the morbid fascination with time and death, with skulls and crossbones, hourglasses and winged cherubsâ heads deeply carved in relief (the area around cut away so the pattern stands proud) or incised (the design directly cut into the stone). During the 18th and early 19th century wide slabs with two panels carved side by side (and occasionally four) intended for husbands and wives or close family members were very popular. Short footstones marking the other end of the grave were frequently used although they rarely survive today and, where they do, have often been resited up against the headstone. Body or coffin stones (see Fig 1.11 ) which covered the grave between these stones were also used in some parts of the country.
FIG 2.10: Many 18th-century gravestones would have been a plain slab with a square, shallow arch or profiled top and a list of family members below. For those with a little more to spend a carved upper section could be added. A short footstone repeating the initials and date of passing was also common although most have been removed or resited. (Originally it would have been on the other side of the headstone at the foot of the grave).
FIG 2.11: In most areas there were gravestones of unique or local style as in this example from Derbyshire!
FIG 2.12: It was common for gravestones to be divided into three sections with a decorative feature in the upper third, the facts of the deceased below and an epitaph at the bottom.
FIG 2.13: The head of the finest 18th-century gravestones was usually arched or had a profile similar to contemporary chair backs and was filled with images of death (skulls) and resurrection (angels).
FIG 2.14: Double-panelled gravestones for husbands and wives or family members were common up to the early 19th century. Many have a blank side, making you wonder if the other half was not as devoted as the deceased believed!
Early 19th-century Gravestones
In the last decades of the 18th century there was a distinctive shift in the type of symbols and decoration used on memorials. Carving became more delicate and shallow and the old morbid themes of death and time were gradually replaced by Classical imagery. Mourning female figures, weeping trees, full-length angels and urns were popular images which featured on stones; in some cases well into the Victorian period although by then they were generally confined to a smaller section at the top. In the early 19th century the Greek Revival style became influential upon gravestone design. The profile at the top was simplified with either a square, shallow triangle or arch being common forms. Decoration like swags, garlands and draped fabric remained popular and new ones with more geometric forms like Greek key were also used. Large decorated words or phrases like âSacredâ and âIn Memoryâ were prominent towards the top of many stones and the inscriptions below became more emotional and sentimental.
FIG 2.15: A distinctive style popular in the first half of the 19th century was the Greek Revival. It was plain and rather austere with rectangular or tapered sides and a simple geometric profile to the top as in these, with a low triangle or pediment. Greek key decoration as in the corners of the lower example was often used.
FIG 2.16: Cast-iron had been used for gravestones in Kent and in the area around Ironbridge, but in the 19th century small foundries mass
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