Odd post for odd cemetery
Mar. 9th, 2009 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithCatholic cemetery from church, showing the old section -- there, up on the hill. The camera doesn't capture the oddness that well.
To me, the shapes and decorations on the headstones are quite odd. I don't think I've ever seen these forms before, at least not in any concentration, which enhances the overall weirdness. That might just be because I haven't been in any old Catholic cemeteries? The older cemeteries are usually Anglican.
The two on the left are from 1852 & 1857. Most Catholic cemeteries I've been in date from later in the century, and the headstones are flat with a curved top. Not all that different from the other denominations, except for the inscriptions.
More this shape, but less ornate. Also, this one comes across as creepy. Possibly it's the black face with all white eyes, or maybe it's the wings growing out of the head
The camera is straight, as you can tell from the chests. It's everything else that's not.
I was about to leave, when I saw another stone at the bottom of the hill.
Once I'd scrambled down, I found a number of stones down here.
There's somewhat of a gap between the bottom stones and the top ones. Whether the intention was to add more graves down here, or they were separated out for some reason, or it's just an odd coincidence, I don't know. I also don't know why part of the hill looks like there's been a fire through here.
Is that a quatrefoil? Not seen it on headstones before, and here is a bunch of them. Patrick, aged 46 in 1852
and Mary Ann, died in 1851 aged 59, so not unbaptised children. I think the separation is just due to the layout of the land and changes over time. Although these being some of the older stones, it does ruin my theory about running out of room on top of the hill.
That looks more like a desert setting than the middle of a farming community. Note the stone on the right that someone has obviously cared for, there's a plaque and the writing on the stone has been redone (Bartholomew Reardon, late of Pittwater, died 1st January 1849, aged 57.)
To me, the shapes and decorations on the headstones are quite odd. I don't think I've ever seen these forms before, at least not in any concentration, which enhances the overall weirdness. That might just be because I haven't been in any old Catholic cemeteries? The older cemeteries are usually Anglican.
The two on the left are from 1852 & 1857. Most Catholic cemeteries I've been in date from later in the century, and the headstones are flat with a curved top. Not all that different from the other denominations, except for the inscriptions.
More this shape, but less ornate. Also, this one comes across as creepy. Possibly it's the black face with all white eyes, or maybe it's the wings growing out of the head
The camera is straight, as you can tell from the chests. It's everything else that's not.
I was about to leave, when I saw another stone at the bottom of the hill.
Once I'd scrambled down, I found a number of stones down here.
There's somewhat of a gap between the bottom stones and the top ones. Whether the intention was to add more graves down here, or they were separated out for some reason, or it's just an odd coincidence, I don't know. I also don't know why part of the hill looks like there's been a fire through here.
Is that a quatrefoil? Not seen it on headstones before, and here is a bunch of them. Patrick, aged 46 in 1852
and Mary Ann, died in 1851 aged 59, so not unbaptised children. I think the separation is just due to the layout of the land and changes over time. Although these being some of the older stones, it does ruin my theory about running out of room on top of the hill.
That looks more like a desert setting than the middle of a farming community. Note the stone on the right that someone has obviously cared for, there's a plaque and the writing on the stone has been redone (Bartholomew Reardon, late of Pittwater, died 1st January 1849, aged 57.)
