Grave Markers…..
by Bernie Bell - 08:12 on 04 March 2025
Grave Markers…..
I wrote about the ‘Symbols of Mortality’ exhibition in Tankerness House Museum….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2025/02/24/symbols-of-mortality-in-tankerness-house-museum/
…..and mentioned the ’Pauper’s Coffin‘ – a coffin-shaped piece of wood on which were transported the bodies of those who couldn’t afford a coffin to be buried in.
This brought to mind two memories.
Firstly, when we lived in Suffolk we regularly walked the fields of a nearby farm, from where we could see the site of the former Parish Workhouse, with accompanying burial ground. The burial ground is now fields where people keep their horses, possibly un-aware of the human remains beneath the earth.
A local Historian told us that it’s possible to trace the names of the people buried there, in the local church records, but they had simple wooden crosses to mark their graves, which are long gone. He also told us that they were buried in just a winding sheet as they couldn’t afford a coffin.
I mentioned the Workhouse in this piece….
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16338
The idea of not being able to afford a lasting grave-marker brought another memory.
Some years ago, a long-lost relative contacted me from America – a descendent of a family member who emigrated when so many did from Ireland. He was trying to trace his family, had come across my name and asked if I could be of help. I gave him contact details for my family in Ireland. He later got back to me to let me know that he’d been to Ireland, found the family records, but couldn’t find head-stones marking their graves. These were poor people, peasants, who will have been buried with a simple wooden cross as a grave-marker and, again, these were long gone.
However, a large stone monument has been raised with the names of those buried in that churchyard carved on it. He sent me a photo of the monument, and some close-ups on which I could read my family name, as well as some other familiar names from the Parish…..
Image courtesy of Dan Frain
This was a good thing for the Parish to have done, and will be much appreciated by others looking for their ancestors.
We humans like to have a place, and a marker, where we can go to ‘visit’ our ancestors and deceased relatives, and connect.
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