Unusual Gravestone
- Thread starter Joonsy
- Start date
Hadn't noticed the missing r until Toddy mentioned it. 2 errors then; the missing r and there not being a Feb. 29th in 1835.
Is it that it is not 29th Feb but Feb 29th?
It is common to find either order....
Or is the slab concrete?
It is common to find either order....
Or is the slab concrete?
the guy (or anybody else for that matter) could not possibly have died on 29th 1835 as there was no such day, 1835 was not a leap year so there was no such day as the 29th, the stonemason either carved the year wrong or the day, makes one wonder whose mistake it was. The gravestone is in the churchyard of a village called Clive in Shropshire. Thanks all
Thanks for posting, on closer inspection, it looks like the 9 as been altered to a 0.
Similar stone masons mistake can be clearly seen at the old county court cells entrance(now the gallery of justice) in Nottingham.
Rob
Similar stone masons mistake can be clearly seen at the old county court cells entrance(now the gallery of justice) in Nottingham.
Rob
I need new glasses
M
thanks for the replies folks
no the 9 has not been altered in any way whatsoever, it clearly reads the 29th 1835 and is clearly a mistake, the question is who's mistake, there is some info inside the church about it and I spoke to the vicar about it, no-one will ever know for sure wether it was the stonemasons mistake or someone else's, the vicar said maybe back then headstones were expensive and whoever paid for it may not have ben able to afford another headstone carved with the correct date so just left it as it was. We will never know of course who made the mistake of carving the wrong date, but one thing for sure is that Thomas Greeen did not die on the 29th 1835 nor did anybody else.next to the grave is this plaque shown below
Some-one's having a wind-up... perhaps there's no Thomas Green either... 180 years on, the head scratching continues...
In the julian calendar leap years where every 3 years and could be on odd days, so it could be that.
Easy mistake to make, especially in days when newspapers and calendars weren't commonly around. Someone says the 29th, so the 29th it is, not the 1st of March.
Folks are funny about things like that too. The 1st of March is supposed to be the day when the steps are swept and the windows closed tight to stop fleas coming in as they waken. If it's done that day supposedly the house (and stable) will be free of the fleas for the rest of the year.
It's also St. David's Day, and the fellow was from Shrewsbury….long history of English and Welsh feuding there.
I doubt we'll ever know really
Fascinating things though are gravestones. Scotswomen are given their own names on theirs, and they took the custom worldwide, genealogists love that because it gives the distaff side of family names too.
The rhymes that folks put on them are often both poignant and strangely funny.
"Stop, stop, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now, so will you be,
So be content to follow me."
and some wit chalked on….
"To follow you I'm quite content,
but I'm damned if I know which way you went!"
Others come inscribed with everything from birlinns to knot work, from skulls and crossbones to the tools of their trades.
I find the long lists of infants on some family tombstones very hard to contemplate.
M
Folks are funny about things like that too. The 1st of March is supposed to be the day when the steps are swept and the windows closed tight to stop fleas coming in as they waken. If it's done that day supposedly the house (and stable) will be free of the fleas for the rest of the year.
It's also St. David's Day, and the fellow was from Shrewsbury….long history of English and Welsh feuding there.
I doubt we'll ever know really
Fascinating things though are gravestones. Scotswomen are given their own names on theirs, and they took the custom worldwide, genealogists love that because it gives the distaff side of family names too.
The rhymes that folks put on them are often both poignant and strangely funny.
"Stop, stop, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now, so will you be,
So be content to follow me."
and some wit chalked on….
"To follow you I'm quite content,
but I'm damned if I know which way you went!"
Others come inscribed with everything from birlinns to knot work, from skulls and crossbones to the tools of their trades.
I find the long lists of infants on some family tombstones very hard to contemplate.
M
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