Curiosity?

[fudge100]

While looking around canisbay church yard i came across a grave stone with a skull and cross bones engraved on it.Having never come across anything like this before, i am curious to find out why a skull and cross bones would be put on a grave stone.Does this have any symbolic meaning?I don't know if this is true but a long time ago i was told by someone that when witches were executed it was common practice to mark their graves with a skull and cross bones but they were always buried outside the church yard walls and never inside the grounds.Please donot misunderstand for i am not in anyway suggesting that there are witches buried in canisbay church yard.I am just curious to find an answer.

[wickscorrie]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/History/Question435928.html
just a quick google search gave this, was there a date on the stone you saw

[fudge100]

Did'nt see a date as the stone was very old and worn.Anyway checked out the site and found it very informative,thanks for that.

[Aaldtimer]

As I remember, the skull and long bones of the person being interred, was the minimum requirement for a Christian burial.:confused

[DeHaviLand]

Nothing sinister, probably just the last resting place of a prominent Freemason.

[brandy]

i also thought they did that with plauge, cholera ect.. victims.. to let people know that it was a highly contagious deadly thing they died from.

[annemarie482]

had a wee look to see what i could find.......

http://www.graveaddiction.com/symbol.html

[northener]

It's very common tombstone decoration dating back to the C17th and C18th, the obvious reference being to death.

The presence of skull and crossbones is a pretty good dating device for a grave that has other details eroded off. They tend to be amongst the oldest surviving carvings in a graveyard. The references to witches and Knights templar are just fantasy.
Also note that in one of the links a respondent gives a date of '1850', that would be way out for the british Isles, but probably correct for North America.

If you want to see lots of them, go to St Magnus' in Kirkwall, because the carvings are inside they have been fantastically preserved

[Duncansby]

The historical context of the skulls and cross bones on gravestones and tombs dates back to the black death. Understandably during this time people were rather preoccupied with death and the psychological effect this had on communities and individuals was very visual. There was an Italian text written around the middle of the fifteenth century called ‘Ars Morendi’ or the ‘Art of Dying’. This was basically a guidebook on the etiquette of dying, making peace with God, etc.

Skulls and crossbones are an extension of this and are designed to act as a prompt to those looking at the grave. These memento mori’s act as a reminder of man’s immortality and became increasingly popular during the time of the black death and were often accompanied with a phrase such as ‘As I am, so shall you become’.

I wrote my pre-honours history dissertation on this – I’ll need to dig it out now and remind myself all about it!

[John Little]

That is my take on it too. The classic extension of it is in the church at Hatfield House where Lord Burghly is buried. His tomb has two layers. On the top is a full size effigy of him in life.

And underneath is a very artististic full size skeleton carved in marble.

But the skull and crossbones is very common down here.

[spurtle]

If you go to the old part of Latheron grave yard there are old stones like that they also have the egg timer and skull as a symbol of the ticking of time and the inevitability of death (just incase it wasn't obvious being a grave)
Latheron church yard is very beautiful too.

[Aestus57]

This post reminded me of a couple of grave stones we saw, one at Halkirk and one at Munsary, which were dated from the 17 hundreds which only bore the inscription " This grave never to be opened ". Can anyone shed any light on what this might mean?

[Dadie]

At a guess they died from something horrible and infectious?

[northener]

This post reminded me of a couple of grave stones we saw, one at Halkirk and one at Munsary, which were dated from the 17 hundreds which only bore the inscription " This grave never to be opened ". Can anyone shed any light on what this might mean?

I've seen the one at Munsary (gotta photo somewhere), I believe it is the grave of a family of cholera victims. it was believed (IIRC) that if the grave was opened, the cholera would 'break out' again.

[domino]

These are quite common and are called mortality signs

[smithp]

Factual accuracys get in the way of a good yarn. I saw loads of the skull and crossbone graves at Kinloss - and I still wish to believe there pirate graves - so don't ruin my myth with facts!

[John Little]

The Kinloss ones are definitely pirates. No doubt about it. ;)