Eighteenth-century tombstone with memento mori, Singleton churchyard
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Eighteenth-century tombstone with memento mori, Singleton churchyard by Stefan Czapski as part of the Geograph project.
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Eighteenth-century tombstone with memento mori, Singleton churchyard
Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 16 Jul 2016
One of a number of 18th-century stones that have been set up close to the churchyard boundary near its south-east corner. This one commemorates Joan Burche who died in 1740 and also later generations of her family. Parts of the inscription are badly weathered, but I think I can make out the words 'John, son of John & Martha Burche' - and then (quite clearly) 'Grandson' . . . In the pitiless fashion of the mid-18th century, there is - at the top of the stone - the carving of a jawless skull. The stylisation, it has to be said, is crude - or at very least 'rustic'. The long tapered object beneath the skull puzzled me for a while, but I think it must be a trumpet - the Last Trump. (If I'm right, then the perspective is sort of proto-Cubist, as you can see into the mouth-piece as well as into the bell).
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Image Location
Latitude
50.909887
Longitude
-0.752124