CHAPTER 4

Symbols and Imagery

FIG 4.1: ST MARY DE CASTRO CHURCH, LEICESTER: Many of the finest gravestones from the 17th to 19th centuries featured symbols and images in addition to the inscription. These are best preserved on slates, most notably those which can be seen in the old churches of central Leicester, carved in the north of the county.

The most surprising aspect of many gravestones and tombs is the variety of symbolic carvings made upon them. These range from individual figures to complete scenes covering the upper half of slabs or sides of a chest. The earliest examples which can readily be seen today date from the late 17th and early 18th centuries when a fascination with mortality and time resulted in the use of symbols like skulls, crossbones, hourglasses, and the tools used to dig the grave. These became intermingled with those of a more optimistic vein, most notably angels or cherubs’ heads which represent the resurrection.

Although these all can still be found in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, they have been generally replaced at this time by symbols of salvation, the figures of Hope, Faith and Charity often set under a tree, with nearly all memorials somewhere featuring an urn. By the Victorian period these dramatic scenes had fallen from favour and a compact image usually with a cross, flowers or foliage becomes common in the late 19th century.

FIG 4.2: On early gravestones the head of the stone features a number of individual symbols usually with a skull or angel’s head, a grouping which represented death and resurrection, as in the top example. On the finest late 18th-century examples they tend to form a single scene, usually with a weeping figure, a tree and an urn as in the bottom left example.

FIG 4.3: ELMORE, GLOS: The Knowles tomb dating from the early 18th century has one of the finest displays of symbolism and sculpture. This side panel features Father Time with an hourglass and scythe on the left, standing on a wheel which represents eternity. A skeleton with sexton’s tools stands upon a globe on the right, representing mortality. The central roundel has two figures in robes holding an open book while two plump angels blow trumpets behind them. At the bottom, two crouching children sit upon squashed skulls.

In addition to these general carvings there were many which were favourites of individual masons. Some were just decoration copied from pattern books, architecture and furniture, or symbols from nature. Others were complete scenes composed in the head of the carver though due to their limited opportunities to travel these were probably based on somewhere in the locality. Occasionally a picture was based on an event from the Bible, while some were representations of a disaster or accident which befell the deceased.

FIG 4.4: ROTHLEY, LEICS: An incredibly detailed carving of the Last Judgement with the tumbling spire based upon a neighbouring church.

Early symbols

FIG 4.5: SKULLS: These are the most simple and common symbol of death, the mortality to which we must all succumb. Some early examples are simply stylised (top) while others were more accurate (middle). They can also be found with crossbones (see Fig 4.7), scythes, sexton’s tools, and in some cases with bat wings (bottom).

FIG 4.6: ANGELS: These represent resurrection, the soul of the deceased on its way to heaven. There is a wide selection of local types and stylised early examples (top) while a chubby-cheeked cherub’s head with wings is the most common form in the 18th century (centre top), often with Heaven represented by sun rays through clouds (centre bottom). From the early 19th century, angels are usually shown as full figures (bottom and Fig 4.13).

FIG 4.7: BONES: Two thigh bones, usually crossed, with or without a skull, form another mortality symbol. The skull and crossbones are believed to be the parts of the body required for resurrection and date back to at least the medieval period. Sometimes whole skeletons were carved but are rare, presumably because of the expensive amount of delicate carving (Fig 4.26).

FIG 4.8: HOURGLASS: Another popular symbol of mortality, representing the passage of time. Sometimes they were winged (bird wing means day, bat wing night). Early ones could be simplified to inverted triangles or double hearts.

FIG 4.9: TOOLS AND TORCHES: Spades and pickaxes, the tools used by the sexton to dig graves, could mean mortality or that this was the trade of the deceased (coffins were sometimes included as well). The flaming torch shown here pointing down also signified death, but when upright meant life.

FIG 4.10: SERPENT: The encircled serpent biting its tail means eternity. It is often wrapped around another symbol like an hourglass which linked time and eternity, or a poppy which meant eternal sleep.

FIG 4.11: GLOBE: Usually shown as a simple ball (sometimes with a band around the middle) it represented the pleasures of the world. It is often found offered by Death to the deceased or under a standing figure as in the above example.

FIG 4.12: HEART: This usually represents the virtue of Love or Charity. When shown with flames it means the fire of Divine love. It is often found pierced with a dart, although in this example it appears to be a sword (which usually represents courage or martyrdom). The three virtues mentioned by St Paul are Faith, Hope and Charity and the figures representing these were popular from the late 18th century (see Figs 4.24 and 4.25).

4.13: TRUMPET: This means victory and resurrection, and can be found either in the hands of angels as above or combined with mortality emblems.

FIG 4.14: CROWN: Symbolic of victory, honour and glory, but also can be the immortal crown of the Christian life. It is usually shown in association with other symbols, sometimes in clouds offered to the mortal below. If held in the hand, it means an innocent life, as found on the grave of a child.

FIG 4.15: FATHER TIME: Usually shown as an old muscular man with a scythe and hourglass, it is another symbol of time and mortality. He is depicted as a full-sized winged figure and can vary greatly, as in the two examples above.

FIG 4.16: BOOKS: These can represent the Bible, indicating resurrection through scripture or a member of the clergy. They can also mean wisdom and when stacked, knowledge, and can be found open or closed.

FIG 4.17: DOVE: The Divine spirit in a glory of light was a central feature of many gravestones from the last quarter of the 18th century. A dove could also mean innocence or purity and with a twig in its mouth it could mean hope or promise.

Trade Symbols

It was common for tools or symbols of trades to be included on gravestones. Carvings of crops were common on memorials to yeoman farmers and it was traditional to send a sheaf of corn to relatives upon their death. The tools of particular trades like weaving can often be found and objects like chalices or pastoral staves were used on the gravestones of the clergy. Weapons for knights and soldiers and even ships for naval officers or merchants can be found too. There are also some more peculiar trades, like the ammonites featured on the gravestone of Samuel Carrington, a 19th-century archaeologist and barrow digger!

Later symbols

FIG 4.18: URNS: These generally represent the soul and when draped or leant upon by a mourning figure they form a Classical image of grief or mourning (Fig 4.23). They become common on gravestones from the late 18th century and can initially be found in delicate and varied forms (some incorrectly shown open as if they carried the human remains within) while later examples from the 1840s and 1850s are more bulky. They can be a simple central carving or a sculptured feature on top of a tomb.

FIG 4.19: TREES AND PLANTS: A tree shown upright meant life, while one which has been cut meant death (a broken column was used in a similar way). Although a number of different types of tree can be illustrated the willow became dominant from the late 18th century through into the Victorian period. A cut flower similarly implied a life cut down in its prime, a poppy represented sleep and palm leaves or branches victory over death. Plants were regarded by many as a Popish symbol and didn’t become common until the 19th century.

FIG 4.20: HANDS: Clasped means friendship or brotherly love while a single hand pointing could signify the Divine presence. Four hands clasped crossways was a Victorian motif inspired by a line from Tennyson: ‘O for the touch of a vanished hand’.

FIG 4.21: LAMB: The lamb with cross and sometimes a banner is known as the Agnus Dei, which is Latin for Lamb of God and was a popular motif on Victorian gravestones, representing Christ. It can also be found on earlier memorials set amidst flames denoting the sacrificial lamb or sometimes is associated with children’s or shepherds’ graves.

FIG 4.22: FREEMASONS’ SYMBOLS: A mason’s gravestone showing some of the common symbols used on their memorials, although rarely in such a splendid display as this.

FIG 4.23: WEEPERS: Mourning figures can be found from all periods. Those holding a skull are believed to represent children who died before the parent whose memorial it is. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries a female figure weeping upon an urn or looking at a book is common (if her foot rests upon a globe it means she despised worldly pleasures).

FIG 4.24: HOPE AND ANCHOR: The three key virtues mentioned by St Paul were Faith, Hope and Charity (or Love) and these become popular images from the late 18th century. The figure of Hope with her anchor is very common and could be simplified to just an anchor on a pile of rock in the Victorian period.

FIG 4.25: FAITH AND THE CROSS: Fear of Popery meant that the cross, the primary symbol of salvation, was rarely used before the Victorian period, when it becomes common. However, if you look closely, it does appear on a number of 18th- and early 19th-century gravestones, some for Catholic families buried in more remote churchyards. Others form part of a scene along with other Passion emblems (items related to Christ’s suffering on the cross) as on this example with the chalice, spear and three drops of blood falling from the clouds.

FIG 4.26: DEATH SCENE: On some more elaborate gravestones and tombs a complete death scene was carved with the deceased being pierced by a dart held by a skeleton representing Death. On other examples this gruesome character stands to one side of a central plaque, as above.

FIG 4.27: BIBLICAL SCENES: On some more ambitious gravestones a scene from the Bible was carved, especially in the late 18th century. The ones chosen were very much a personal choice and many have a local pastoral theme to the carving. The above example shows the Sacrifice of Isaac when God commanded Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering but an angel, seen top right in the clouds, stopped him at the last moment.

FIG 4.28: DISASTERS: Occasionally a disaster like a shipwreck can be illustrated upon the gravestone. In this rare example from Great Yarmouth a suspension bridge is shown collapsing. This happened in 1845 when a clown travelling along the River Bure in a wash tub to promote a circus encouraged a crowd to surge onto the bridge causing the iron chains to break. Over 80 people, mainly children died, and the only memorial to the tragedy is this carving on the gravestone of nine-year-old George Beloe.

FIG 4.29: ACCIDENTS: Individual incidents can also be recorded as on this one of a pair marking the death in a train boiler explosion – a common occurrence on early locomotives – of Joseph Rutherford. Carvings like this can be historically interesting as it shows a contemporary engine. Note also this stone is painted (the current brown scheme is peeling off) as originally were other memorials (see Fig 1.10).

FIG 4.30: One of the panels from the side of Sir Joseph Danver’s tomb in the churchyard at Swithland, Leics, where the notable quarry produced slate for local memorials. This incredible piece shows a contemporary farming scene with ridge and furrows, ploughing and a presumably new farmhouse being built in the background. It is said that the reason this tomb is rather oddly positioned straddling the churchyard wall is that the squire wanted to be buried with his dog which could not be done on consecrated land, hence one part is outside and the other containing him is inside!