Arthur Gilbert - Swithland

At the rear of the churchyard in Swithland, lies a row of headstones commemorating members of the Gilbert family. The oldest of these belongs to Arthur Gilbert.

Here Lyes The BOdy

Of Arthvr GILbert WhO

DeparteD ThIS LIFe

ThE 13th dAY OF JAnuAry

ANNO DOM 1683

AEtaHs Sur 83 Yeares

 

In transcribing this stone, I have tried to be faithful to the irregular use of capital letters and to the spelling. 'Arthvr' should clearly be 'Arthur'. We can see the use of the letter U correctly in the final word of the inscription, so it does seem that the V was a mistake. A transcription error perhaps. All this adds weight to the idea that the mason did not have a high level of literacy and was merely transcribing words that had been written by someone else.

 

The words "Aetais Sue" are almost certainly intended to read "Aetatis suae", a Latin phrase meaning "In the year of his age".

 

A death in January after the the Gregorian calendar started to be used but before its official adoption in 1752 is sometimes given a double date, but here only a single date is given. 

 

 

After the year, five dots, are inscribed in a pattern sometimes called a quincunx. I would like to know the meaning of this. Perhaps it is merely a design to make the stone more beautiful, adding to the pattern of arches and crosses that runs along the top. Alternatively, it may have a specific meaning.