Eye-catching grave, Old Bathgate Parish Churchyard

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 6 Jan 2023

This gravestone is pictured a few times online, but the only thing written about it anywhere is on the always-informative UndiscoveredScotland site. Underneath a picture of it, it says 'Adam and Eve Stone', and that's it. Had I not come across the description, though, I would have assumed it was commemorating the death of a child (who might possibly have been pictured holding the hand of a sibling/twin to indicate that they would both be reunited in heaven), or worse still, the death of two children at the same time. Although to our eyes today the figures look like two girls, in earlier times there wasn't often much difference between the depiction of males and females on gravestones. If it is an Adam and Eve grave it is very crudely done as there is no tree or serpent present. Christianity's symbolism is often quite confusing; even the experts don't seem too sure if Adam and Eve are meant to represent the purity of heaven, tying in with the Garden of Eden's perfection before the forbidden fruit was eaten, or whether they are there to deliver a stern warning to people to stay on the path of righteousness. The whole Adam and Eve story doesn't make that much sense really anyway. Why was it called 'The Tree of Good and Bad', and not just 'The Tree of Bad'? They must surely have eaten good things off good trees before that serpent came along with his tempting words?

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