I can’t say I’ve ever come across a tomb like it before.
Looking up the story, it seems that the law at the time (17th century) insisted that people be buried in shrouds made of wool. Yet these shrouds are depicted as being clearly of linen.
So, not only did these two indomitable ladies defy the law – but they made sure everyone knew they had! They must have been quite formidable...
Link: St Augustine, Rugeley / This post has been featured on Taphophile Tragics the cemetery-enthusiasts' website
funny they depict on the outside whats in the inside, haha! i wonder about their heads, can you make out their faces? its hard to tell from this pic.
ReplyDeleteHi CaT... The heads poke out from a square which is cut in the shroud, though I should think this is just for the tomb, as the real shroud would have covered them top to toe and then been knotted at both ends.
DeleteBut the tomb is so worn that the features on the faces can't really be discerned at all.
An extraordinary story and an extraordinary tomb! Strangely, there seems to be no names of these women! Almost like a symbol!
ReplyDeleteI too am attracted to tombs. Of course, anything this old would not be found in the area in which I live. For some reason I've not thought to capture them, but I will now.
ReplyDeleteI will be back, but hate the trying part of deciphering to leave a comment again.
I think the rule on wool was to support the English wool trade, but these ladies might have thought it wasn't quite posh enough for them - so they defiantly chose linen.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a burial shroud. Nowadays, it seems odd that there were rules about what you could be buried in when people can rest eternal in their favourite gowns or robes.
ReplyDeletethese two must have been quite the rabble rousers in their day - and to have had help in getting this done must have meant some influence in a dangerous time!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a fantastic find! I wonder why the law said it had to be wool?
ReplyDeleteHerding Cats
I like this sculpture very much, Mark. I have not seen anything remotelt like it over here. I suspect we weren't into the shrouds thing. But the collaboration between the mason and the family of these women must have been intimate, to have enabled him to portray them in this way. I wonder if he did if from life (death?) ...
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for being so late with my visit this week. Other (higher) duties called me away.
Thanks Julie. My own guess (as, no one really knows) is that the tomb-maker was commissioned by the sisters (or one of them) to make the tomb as described.
DeleteTo have had such a large tomb they would have had to be pretty well-off, so, beign so well-off, it was probably quite straight-forward to get the tomb-maker to do as they had asked.