In Search of Gravestones Old and Curious

In Search Of Gravestones Old And Curious

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Title: In Search Of Gravestones Old And Curious
Author: W.T. (William Thomas) Vincent
Release Date: July 21, 2004 [EBook #12978]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SEARCH OF
GRAVESTONES
OLD AND CURIOUS.
With One Hundred and Two Illustrations
BY
W. T. VINCENT,
PRESIDENT OF THE WOOLWICH DISTRICT ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY; AUTHOR OF "THE RECORDS OF THE WOOLWICH DISTRICT," ETC., ETC.
LONDON:
MITCHELL & HUGHES, 140, WARDOUR STREET.
1896.

IN SEARCH OF
GRAVESTONES
OLD AND CURIOUS.

Frontispiece.
[Illustration: AN EARLY SAMPLE AT HIGHAM.] (Page 11.)

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER
I. OLD GRAVESTONES 1
II. THE EVOLUTION OF GRAVESTONES 9
III. ARTISTIC GRAVESTONES 20
IV. PROFESSIONAL GRAVESTONES 31
V. A TYPICAL TRAMP IN KENT 35
VI. MORE TYPICAL TRAMPS 43
VII. EARLIER GRAVESTONES 49
VIII. REFORM AMONG THE GRAVESTONES 57
IX. PRESERVING THE GRAVESTONES 62
X. OLD GRAVESTONES IN IRELAND 78
XI. OLD GRAVESTONES IN SCOTLAND 84
XII. OLD GRAVESTONES ABROAD 91
XIII. VERY OLD GRAVESTONES 97
XIV. THE REGULATION OF GRAVESTONES 105
INDEX 111

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
EARL STANHOPE, F.S.A.,
LORD LIEUTENANT OF KENT,
PRESIDENT OF THE KENT ARCH?OLOGICAL SOCIETY,
ETC.,
THIS COLLECTION OF
OLD AND CURIOUS GRAVESTONES
IS BY SPECIAL PERMISSION
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF GRAVESTONES.
AN EARLY EXAMPLE AT HIGHAM
1 AND 2, NEWHAVEN
3, WIDCOMBE; 4, NEWHAVEN; 5, LEWES
6, PLUMSTEAD; 7 AND 8, DARTFORD
9, FRANKFORT; 10, EAST WICKHAM
11, RIDLEY; 12, HOO
13, ERITH; 14, HIGH HALSTOW
15, FRINDSBURY; 16, HIGHAM
17, SHORNE AND CHALK
18, MEOPHAM; 19, STANSTEAD; 20, OLD ROMNEY
21, CRAYFORD; 22, SHOREHAM
23, LEWISHAM; 24, HORNSEY
25, TEDDINGTON; 26, FINCHLEY; 27, FARNBOROUGH
28, CHISELHURST; 29, HARTLEY
30, WEST WICKHAM; 31, HORNSEY
32, HORTON KIRBY; 33, CLIFFE
34, DARENTH; 35, KINGSDOWN
36, FAWKHAM; 37, SWANSCOMBE
38, ASHFORD; 39, COOLING
40, HENDON; 41, EAST WICKHAM
42, SNARGATE; 43, EAST HAM
44, WILMINGTON; 45, WANSTEAD; 46, SOUTHFLEET; 47, WILMINGTON
48, LEWISHAM; 49, BUNHILL FIELDS
50, WOOLWICH; 51, LONGFIELD
52, LYDD; 53, BERMONDSEY
54, RICHMOND; 55, RIPLEY
56, COBHAM; 57, BARNES
58, FRINDSBURY; 59, SUTTON AT HONE
60, BROMLEY; 61, BECKENHAM
62, GREEENFORD; 63, WEST HAM
64, LEE; 65, ORPINGTON
66, ST. MARY CRAY; 67, ST. PAUL'S CRAY
68, FOOT'S CRAY; 69, BEXLEY
70, BARKING; 71, WOOLWICH
72, DEPTFORD; 73, WEST HAM
74, AND 75, WANSTEAD
76, WALTHAMSTOW; 77, BROXBOURNE
78, STAPLEFORD TAWNEY; 79, SHORNE
80, BETHNAL GREEN; 81, PLUMSTEAD
82, CHESHUNT; 83, HATFIELD
84, NORTHOLT; 85, TWICKENHAM
86, HIGH BARNET; 87, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES
88, SWORDS
89, DROGHEDA
90, BANGOR; 91, MUCKROSS AND QUEENSTOWN
92, INVERNESS; 93, BRAEMAR
94, STIRLING
95, BLAIRGOWRIE
96, LAUFEN
97, NEUHAUSEN
98, HEIDELBERG; 99, LUCERNE
100, THE BRESSAY STONE; 101, LUNNASTING AND KILBAR STONES

PREFACE.
I am a Gravestone Rambler, and I beg you to bear me company.
This Book is not a Sermon. It is a lure to decoy other Ramblers, and the bait is something to ramble for. It also provides a fresh object for study.
Old-lore is an evergreen tree with many branches. This is a young shoot. It is part of an old theme, but is itself new.
Books about Tombs there are many, and volumes of Epitaphs by the hundred. But of the Common Gravestones--the quaint and curious, often grotesque, headstones of the churchyard--there is no record.
These gravestones belong to the past, and are hastening to decay. In one or two centuries none will survive unless they be in Museums. To preserve the counterfeit presentment of some which remain seems a duty.
Many may share the quest, but no one has yet come out to start. Let your servant shew the way.
I begin my book as I began my Rambles, and pursue as I have pursued.
WILLIAM THOMAS VINCENT.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. NEWHAVEN.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2. NEWHAVEN.]

IN SEARCH OF
GRAVESTONES
OLD AND CURIOUS.

CHAPTER I
.
OLD GRAVESTONES.
I was sauntering about the churchyard at Newhaven in Sussex, reading the inscriptions on the tombs, when my eyes fell upon a headstone somewhat elaborately carved. Although aged, it was in good preservation, and without much trouble I succeeded in deciphering all the details and sketching the subject in my note-book. It is represented in Fig. 1.
FIG. 1--AT NEWHAVEN, SUSSEX.
The inscription below the design reads as follows:
"Here lyeth the remains of Andrew Brown, who departed this life the 14th day of January 1768, aged 66 years. Also of Mary his wife, who departed this life the 3d day of July 1802, aged 88 years."
This was the first time I had been struck by an allegorical gravestone of a pronounced character.
The subject scarcely needs to be interpreted, being obviously intended to illustrate the well-known passage in the Burial Service: "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised ... then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in Victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" The reference in another ritual to the Lord of Life trampling the King of Terrors beneath his feet seems also to be indicated, and it will be noticed that the artist