Time's death-struggle

In this tombstone carving you see a winged figure (Time) hovering over a corpse/skeleton, and both appear to be clasping an arrow. It's clearly a struggle of some sort.
Fellow blogger Beneath Thy Feet explained the significance of it to me as Time arrriving to claim his due at the moment of the person's death.  The arrow I guess represents the inevitable trajectory of existence - towards death.
The superscript motto reads: Time and Death shal be no more

So far I've found two of these type of carvings in Staffordshire: one in Audley churchyard, and this one, which is in Horton churchyard.

Taking a photo from the left side of the same carving more clearly shows the woman praying (she who is to become the skeleton I suppose), an hourglass, and, erm... three shapes whose significance I don't know!  If you know what these three shapes represent, I'd be very happy to hear...



This post was featured on the Cemetery Sunday website   

Stone's ninety year old man

For ninety years my glass has run
And now my God to thee I come
Receive my soul for sake of him
Who paid a ransom for my sin.

William Lycett lived to a pretty ripe age till his death in 1813 - and is buried in St Michael's Church at Stone.

This post has been featured on Taphophile Tragics (the cemetery-enthusiasts' website)   

Muslim tombs in Stapenhill

Stapenhill Cemetery is the biggest in Burton-upon-Trent - so big that it can have 'sections'. There is the Catholic section, the section for children's graves, war graves, and one for the Muslim dead.
The sections are not marked, or fenced off, which heartens me. Too often we like to separate people in death as we do in life - so it's good that everyone is here all together, I think.
These Muslim tombstones are particularly stunning, with the beautiful Arabic script on them.

Sadly, the three men who have died in the rioting that has swept parts of the country (but not Staffordshire) appear to be Muslim. It seems they were defending their homes when they were run down by a car.