Free Gravestones, Tombs & Memorials by Trevor Yorke Page B

individuals who could not afford such a monument could still be buried under a stone slab or a brass, the detail retained in the latter a useful indication of period dress and individual aspiration.

    FIG 1.4: Tall stone Saxon preaching crosses carved with symbolic figures relating biblical stories and morals to an illiterate congregation can still be found in churchyards today, mainly in the Midlands and North. Smaller types like this example may have marked a notable grave although, like most, it has lost part of its shaft so appears shorter than it originally was.

    FIG 1.5: Grave-slabs are the most common Saxon and medieval burial markers found today, with their distinctive incised crosses, and many churches have one or two propped up against a wall inside. Early ones tend to be narrow with a tapered shape and a simple cross, ones from the 13th century have a more elaborate cross carved in relief while those from the 14th century tend to be on rectangular stones. Many of these grave-slabs were lost or used in later rebuilding and often discovered during restoration. The most incredible collection was the 300 found in Bakewell church, Derbys (above), some 70 of which have been mounted in the porch where they can still be viewed today.

    FIG 1.6: Stone coffins used for important burials, usually under the church floor, are another frequently found medieval relic. They were not, however, for permanent interment but were only used while the body decayed, the hole at the bottom allowing fluids to drain out and speed up the process. After this the bones were removed to a charnel house (either a chamber below the church, a room to the side of it or a separate building in the churchyard) after which the coffin could be used again.
    The area around the medieval church would have looked completely different from our familiar image. There would have been few if any stone memorials, the only feature standing above the hummocks of graves on the sunny south side would have been the churchyard cross mounted on a stepped base, which marked the consecrated ground. The north side would usually be bare. This shaded part was believed to be the realm of the devil and evil spirits, and even later it was used particularly for the burial of strangers, suicides and unbaptised children. In many cases it was only in the 19th century, when population growth created so much pressure for burial space, that it was put into use.

    FIG 1.7: Although effigies were a feature of the altar tombs within the building they can occasionally be found outside in the churchyard. Those still in good condition may have been re-sited from inside, those worn so as to be unrecognisable may be in their original position. This husband and wife pair dating from around 1600 in the churchyard at Stone, Staffs were inside the medieval church but when a new building was erected a few yards away they were left stranded outside, with the gentleman losing his legs and hands during the demolition.
    In the Middle Ages the churchyard was often the only public space in the parish, so was used for fairs, with stalls set up within the hallowed ground and sports events like archery (these would probably have taken place on the grave-free north side). The priest may also have had his house set up in a corner of the ground with his own livestock able to graze God’s Acre, leading to some families planting willow or brambles to keep the animals off the graves!
    The Reformation and the founding of the Church of England in the early 1530s heralded in more than a century of religious turmoil. Iconoclasts destroyed any Catholic symbols, most notably the cross, and many of the memorials which did exist were lost, including the churchyard cross (the burial service was even banned under the Commonwealth, with bodies taken to the grave without ceremony or any memorial). The Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 brought an end to many of these Puritanical extremes and coincided with a growth in