What a magnificent name - they don't write 'em like that any more! I see that his wife, Ann, only outlasted him by a month (who says you cannot die of a broken heart?)
Monday, July 28, 2008
TOMBSTONE
During a gentle cycling day with the Veteran-Cycle Club (which will be posted up later), we chanced to stop at the 13th century church at Brookland. I just had to share with you this gravestone in the floor of the nave.
What a magnificent name - they don't write 'em like that any more! I see that his wife, Ann, only outlasted him by a month (who says you cannot die of a broken heart?)
What a magnificent name - they don't write 'em like that any more! I see that his wife, Ann, only outlasted him by a month (who says you cannot die of a broken heart?)
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15 comments:
Very unusual name! Oh I can believe one can die of a broken heart.....especially at that age having spent a life time together, to suddenly loose your beloved spouse. Gives me a lump in my throat.
Wonderful name, one should write a historical novel just to use it for a character.
Of course in the days of cholera, pneumonia and diphtheria epidemics, it was quite likely they both just cought what was going around... sorry to be so unromantic!
Beautiful ... would make a great story - or poem!
Lucy:
You old cynic, you! There is Robyn with a lump in her throat and Kay thinking about a poem (go for it, Kay - I dare you!)and you have to be so realistic and spoil our reveries (even if you are very probably right).
I'd much rather see names such as this than a couple I heard of the other day:
"No.16 Bus Shelter" and
"Midnight Chardonnay" and...
"Violence" !!
What were those parents thinking?
But seriously though, it's a known fact that couples live longer than singles and it's all down to having someone to love and give us purpose. My granddad lasted only a few months after my nana. He tidied up all his paperwork, accounts etc, sat in a chair and died.
Helen:
Could those names possibly reflect the circumstances under which these unfortunates were conceived?
Beautiful name. "Here lieth the Body," just seems so proper. The spirit abides.
Well, I'm just plain jealous. My maiden name was Smith and there were three other girls with the same first name as me in my class at school.
Inscriptions like that demand contemplation. What were their lives like? What remains of them other than the inscription? Maybe Larkin's poem, An Arundel Tomb says it best.
Well seen, Avus.
Oh, my! Gamaliel Brattee. Maybe without Gamaliel to cook for, Ann just starved to death.
P'Pete:
Oddly enough I saw the subject of "An Arundel Tomb" just recently.
Is that 1750? Wow,
Yes, it certainly looks as if she just gave up after he died.......It must be incredibly lonesome at that age to find yourself alone.......after how many years of marriage, maybe 60......
sniff, sniff
But what a great stone and carving....
A fabulous name. In case of the need for a pseudonym at some point, it now replaces my erstwhile favourite Compton Pauncefoot.
What impresses me is the typography. At first glance it looks casual, a second glance reveals elegant consistency - thicks and thins, serifs, perfect letter-spacing unassisted by any banal CPU. But my retired editorial hand itches to simplify the punctuation.
Avus probably means something in Latin. But it was also a notoriously fatal banked racing track in Germany. Or no doubt something I wot not of.
Dick:
Thanks for visiting - I enjoyed your "erstwhile favourite".
Barrett Bonden:
Again nice to welcome you - Avus is Latin for "Grandfather" - which is most appropriate in my case!
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