Graves/symbols/meanings

[suey]

   I'm sure that in the early days of Rootschat Chris 1066 put up a thread which covered the meanings of grave stone symbols etc 

I'm dipped if I can find it though - Can one of the moderators resurrect it I wonder?

Suey

[Ruskie]

Oh, I hope that post is still around - I would like to read it. I might go googling again - I couldn't find what I was after last time.

[Lydart]

Hello Mods ?   Anyone there ?  Can you point us to the past thread please ?

(No-one listening ... think they are all out Christmas shopping !)

[Ruskie]

They'll have to pop in sometime Lydart. In the meantime I found this:
http://www.timetravel-britain.com/columns/roots/roots04.shtml
Interesting but doesn't really answer my question.
&
http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/chesttombs/chesttombs.htm

[stanmapstone]

   I'm sure that in the early days of Rootschat Chris 1066 put up a thread which covered the meanings of grave stone symbols etc 

I'm dipped if I can find it though - Can one of the moderators resurrect it I wonder?

Suey

See http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,94264.0.html

[Ruskie]

This is good, but no dogs:
http://members.aol.com/TombView/symbol2.html
Thanks for that Stan - I'm off to read it now.

[Lydart]

That's an interesting site ... thanks !

What do people think about this:-  in your opinion, have you found that ag lab ancestors from the 1800 - 1860 or so times, dont have graves that you can locate (they may just have been marked with a long gone wooden cross) but the more recent ones are findable (so I'm told ... never found any of mine !)  

[stanmapstone]

Lovely pictures - thanks for posting them. They're so colourful. I've not noticed any coloured ones before. Perhaps they were all painted originally?

Through the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries most of the effigies were carved in stone, usually Caen stone or Alabaster. Early effigies were usually coated with gesso (a mixture of size and whiting) and painted. Remember that in the late middle ages the churches, themselves, blazed with brilliantly painted stone and woodwork. Even the smallest church was liberally decorated with wall paintings.
If the effigies were on a tomb chest then the bodies should be inside however the term 'tomb' is sometimes used to describe various forms of monument which are not necessarily erected over the plce of intrnment.
Stan

[Ruskie]

Yes Stan, I do believe there was lots of colour used then.

I read on one of the sites I posted earlier, that outside the bodies were buried under the ground as usual and the tomb built above ground but I always wondered about the ones inside churches. Interesting - thanks.

Lydart - re your question. I'm in Australia - my ancestors came here in the mid 1800's. Only found a few graves and no trace of the oldest one c. 1889. I guess it would depend on quality of materials as to how long they last, even taking into account pollution etc?