A Brief Guide to the Graveyard

29 Mar 2017 • Articles

The architecture of ancient churches can tell us much about how the people who built them understood and worshipped God. However, it is not only the church itself that can tell us stories of con­gregations past. Graveyards are a wealth of information, documenting com­munities and remembering loved ones.
Gravestones, gravemarkers, or tomb­stones, are believed to have originally developed, not only as a marker for the grave, but in more superstitious times they were seen as a way to prevent the dead from rising, and usually covered the whole grave. The earliest known grave­stones date from around 3,000-4,000 B.C., taking the form of grand monu­ments or small markers. Through the ages they have developed to reflect each society that creates them, not only memorialising and honouring the dead, but teaching us how people viewed death.
Decoration on gravestones has aesthetic value but it also can used to impart information about the owner, and depict how he or she would like to be remembered. Symbols can also denote the deceased’s occupation during his or her lifetime. Stones depicting actual scenes from past lives are rare, but can be found in Scottish kirdyards from the 18th and 19th Centuries.
In the Victorian era, greater impor­tance was placed on the memorial of the dead, which brought with it elaborate headstones and burial practices, with vast amounts of money spent on both.
Here is a brief guide to the symbols and images you may come across when walking through a graveyard or cemetery.

Anchor - Hope, steadfastness. Rumoured to be a disguised cross for early Christians. Also found of the graves of sailors.
Archway - An entrance to Heaven.
Arrows - Mortality and martyrdom.
Alpha and Omega - The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, symbolic of the beginning and end of life.
Angel, weeping - A tragic or untimely death.
Acorn - Potential.
Book - Often symbolizes the Bible. An open book can signify an open heart.
Broken Branch or Flower - Severed life, usually of the young, cut down in their prime.
Bellflower - Gratitude
Buds - Renewal of life.
Butterfly - Rebirth, resurrection Some­times found on the headstones of children.
Chain - Truth.
Crossed Keys - St Peter.
Column, broken - A life cut short in its prime. Can also represent the death of the head of the family.
Crown - Immortality, righteousness.
Cross with the rays of the Sun - Glory to God
Circle - Eternity. If the circle is broken, it can symbolize life ended.
Daffodil - Death of youth, grace and beauty.
Dragonfly - Change, transformation, joy, lightness of being.
Fern - Sincerity, humility and solitude.
Garlands - Victory in or over death.
Grapes - Prosperity, fertility.
Hands, clasped - A parting farewell, often between couples, symbolizing the bond between them.
Hart - Faithfulness, the soul thirsting
for God.
Hourglass - Mortality. This can often be seen with wings, or with the hourglass on its side to represent time stopped for the deceased.
IHS - The first three letters of ‘Jesus’ in the Greek alphabet.
Lily - Purity, innocence. Often seen on Victorian gravestones, symbolising the ‘returning of the soul to innocence at the time of death’.
Poppy - Death, eternal sleep, peace.
Ram - Sacrifice
Wheat - The Resurrection, cycle of life and the seasons.
Yew Tree - Evergreen, life eternal after death.