Samual Gilbert - Swithland

Here lieth ye Body

of Samual Gilbert

the Son of Robert

Gilbert by Hannah

his wife, He departed

this life Janr: 26.th 1728/9

In ye 10:th year of his Age

Four years after the death of Ann Gilbert, Robert and Hannah seem to have lost another child. This time the 10 year old Samuel. The design of Anne and Samual's memorials is so similar, it seems highly likely to be the work of the same mason.

From this layout it also seems likely that Ann's headstone would have given her age at death, but that part of the stone is now under the soil level and so is unreadable.

This is yet another double dated stone. Another death in the cold month of January.

Ann Gilbert - Swithland

Here

lieth the body of

Ann Gilbert the

Daughter of Robert

Gilbert and Hannah

his wife, She departed

this life the 28th day

of January 1724/5

This is another of the Gilbert family graves in the churchyard in Swithland.

Robert Gilbert - Swithland

Here is another member of the Gilbert family, who lie in a row at the rear of the church in Swithland.

Here lies ye Body

of Rob:t Gilbert son

of Arther Gilbert

Who died ye 12th

of Feb:ry

Anno Dom:

1697/8

Aged 54 y:rs

 

This really is a beautiful memorial, engraved on a somewhat irregularly shaped stone.

Whereas his father's headstone is single dated, this stone, seven years later, is double dated. This is interesting because it suggests a period of transition during which people in this part of the world started to think of January1st as New Year instead of March 25th.

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.

 

Elizabeth Smith - Swithland



There is a particularly fine collection of 17th and 18th Century headstones to the rear of the St. Leonard's Church in Swithland. The churchyard is beautifully kept. In the autumn sunshine this morning it was wonderfully peaceful. Hundreds of years having passed, the stories implied by the headstones do not carry the weight of sadness they undoubtedly did when fresh.   

 

Here

lieth the Body of

Eliz: Daughter of

Tho: and Mary

Smith. She de-

-parted this life

Janr: ye 2d 1723/4.

Aged 13: years.

 

This stone memorial to the child Elizabeth Smith, is notable for the double dating and for the skull and crossed bones detail at the top. 

 

 

 

 

The Riddle of Double Dated Headstones

Why do some early headstones give two years of death for the same person? The headstone of Richard Broadas in Woodhouse is a beautiful example.

 

Here lieth ye Body of

Richard the Son of

Antony Broadas Who

died ye 20th of Feb:1702/3

aged 22 years

 

How could he had died in both 1702 and 1703?

To find the answer we have to look back to the Calendar (New Style) Act, which was adopted by parliament in 1750.

Previously England, Wales, Ireland and the Colonies had used the Julian Calendar and celebrated New Year on March 25th. The Act formally adopted the Gregorian Calendar and set New Year on the now familiar day of January 1st.

One curious byproduct of this change was that the year 1751, was left with only 282 days.

The use of double dates on headstones shows that for a time the two dating systems co-existed. Thus, any day after January 1st and before March 24th might be regarded as being in one of two adjacent years.

This double dated headstone in Newtown Linford is another example. William Poole is said to have died on the 16th of March 1605/6. According to the Old Style calendar he died in 1605 (new year had not yet been reached). But according to the New Style calendar the new year happened in January, so it was already 1606.

The New Style calendar had been adopted in other parts of the world many years before. The changeover took place in Scotland in 1600 and earlier still in Catholic Europe.

From the double dating of headstones and other documents it seems that the change of new year had for some time been seeping into popular usage in England, but that legal documents used the old system until the formal changeover in 1752.

William Poole - Newtown Linford

Here Lyeth ye Body

of William Poole

who Departed this life

the 16th of March:

Anno Do 1695. 6

Aged 47

This is another of the 17th Century headstones of All Saints Churchyard, Newtown Linford. It is simple but beautifully laid out. Unlike so many of the early stones, this one was clearly sketched out in advance, with each line pleasingly centred.

William died 9 days before the new year, which was counted as March 25th in England and Wales up until 1751.

The thing I don't understand about this stone is the meaning of the small superscript '6' following the date.