The interpretation of the markings of gravestones are pretty easy to read with a little research, these include the graves of Covenanters. But definately not all grave markings define them.
In fact, the gravestone to the left, sent to us for clarification, has been claimed tells the story of a person killed at the hands of another. This conclusion was reached because of the skull and crossbones at the base, suggesting they were killed and the angel’s head and wings (Cherub) at the top, which further claimed meant that they were innocent. It was also suggested that this combination was commonly reflected on Covenanter graves?
As some of our family were known supporters of the Covenant cause and infact that of the Jacobites, we were asked if this story line accurately depicted the facts. As usual, we investigate the facts which led us to Old Mortality.
Old Mortality
Old Mortality was a figure depicted in two volumes of the same name by Sir Walter Scott in his Waverley Novels published in 1816, and it covers a time in Scotland (1679) during a time of political turmoil, when the dissenting Covenanters took up in arms against the English King Charles II. It seems however, he was a real-life character called Robert Paterson, who went around the southwest of Scotland, tending the graves of fallen Covenanters, ensuring inscriptions depicting who they were and the cause they died for remained on their gravestones. However, these inscriptions can usually be supported by the evidence ie graveyard plans and records of the same.
But what was a Covenanter?
Although covered in our previous blogs, an excellent and concise definition is given by the ‘history workshop‘ which states: By subscribing to the National Covenant (1638) and Solemn League and Covenant (1643), many Scots pledged to uphold the Presbyterian form of church government in Scotland, in defiance of King Charles I. On his return to the throne after the civil war, Charles II re-instituted Episcopalianism and established royal supremacy in church and state. Staunch Covenanters who believed that Jesus Christ was the only head of the church refused to swear the Abjuration Oath, which testified to Charles’ legitimacy. They assembled with arms in the moors and on the hills of the Southern Uplands and declared war against the king. Several were executed by royal forces for their disloyalty.
On 10th September 1663, 7th January 1665, 5th January 1668 and 3rd January 1670. Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh was where the Covenant was signed in 1638. However, the rebellion was quashed and after the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679 several hundred Covenanters were imprisoned in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Many of these were executed in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket (where there is an upraised circular memorial marking the spot) a couple of hundred yards away and subsequently buried in Greyfriars.
But what about the grave marking which defined them as Covenanters, how were they engraved as there are many dotting the landscape in cemeteries throughout the south west of Scotland. Well, the gravestones of ‘the killing times’ and we accept some were lost and are ill defined, which commemorate those martyrs to the cause are actually inscribed with information on the individual.
Some are grand pieces donated by such folks as the Scottish Covenanter Memorial Society ie the Dumfries Martyrs’ Monument and some, albeit definitely and most certainly not all, are simple grave stones where a skull and cross bones or a cherubs (angels heads with two wings) may be clearly seen. However, in the latter cases, an inscription will normally and clearly mark the grave as being a covenanter or if not as previously said, historical evidence will support it.
An example will be the grave of William Harvey, who was a Covenanter (the pic taken from georgraph.org), where one side shows the skull and cross bones, with an inscription on the other side of the stone (although part of it is also visible on the top).This stone is in the graveyard of the old St Kentigern’s Church, and is that of a Lanark weaver named William Harvey (“Hervi”), who was tried at the Justiciary Court in Edinburgh in February 1682, and executed on the 2nd of March of that year as a Covenanter.
So, what do the skull and crossbones depict on a gravestone?
Based on the rationale for this blog, do they tell the story of an innocent man (possibly a covenanter) killed or are they simply something else. These symbols are actually very common on Scottish headstones, especially in and around the 1600’s. They are a symbol of death and served as a memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death itself and the transitory nature of life.
And what of the cherubs head usually set on the top of a stone. These represent the soul leaving the body and ascending to heaven, reflecting the immortality of the human soul which will be accounted for during the resurrection on the Day of Judgement. In both cases they honour the dead, but importantly remind the living of the inevitability of it.
An excellent appraisal of headstone engravings and tombstone symbolism in the Southwest of Scotland can be found here . It is a well written piece by its author Graham Brooks where he writes; Graveyards as we know them only really started around 1600, previous to this the space around the church was empty of monuments and gravestones. The area was used for fairs and markets and archery practice etc. These were outlawed in Scotland in 1692.
People of high rank and those who could pay, were buried inside the church. In Scotland this was banned under during the reformation in the 1560s, although it continued as an income for the church or minister. The prohibiting of burial in the church meant that every man had the right to be buried in his own ‘lair’ in the churchyard. The original ‘lairs’ were marked by head and foot stones and it was in the early 1600s that dates and initials were carved on the headstones, from which developed the variety of carvings etc. we see today. A lot of tombstones have carvings on them which have symbolic meanings.
So, going back to the start of this piece, where it is romantically suggested that the gravestone containing a cherub/angels head with two wings at the top and a skull and crossbones at the base, depict an innocent man killed, possibly a covenator is in fact sadly wrong.
The use of symbolism on Scottish graves is pretty universal as is their meaning, none of which can on their own depict an accurate storyline without clarification or historical evidence.
However, the trend of placing symbolism on a tombstone was simply an attempt by the family to venerate their dead and just as importantly, and as previously stated, to remind the living of their own mortality. Something which should ring a bell with us all as should following the evidence to find the truth.
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