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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



use suggests that this could occur on established 

 family plots. The context of prior grave ownership is 

 uncertain in the other four identified cases here. The 

 Cherhill documentation reminds gravestone 

 recorders to be aware of the potentially complex use 

 lives of the memorials. Not only may gravestone texts 

 be accumulated through a sequence of inscriptional 

 events, but such events can occasionally lead to the 

 removal of outmoded texts. Whether this practice 

 was a regional one beyond that of Cherhill would be 

 a subject of wider study. Gravestones are valuable 

 examples of popular material culture, combining 

 form and text in a way which allows many 

 opportunities for analysis. It is important to treat 

 such evidence critically, and as with many other 

 archaeological and documentary sources, consider 

 the particular factors that have affected the material 

 which survives for us to study today. 



Notes 



1. Erection dates occur very rarely in many areas, but 

 only in numbers in a few regions such as Stirling, 

 Clackmannan, Renfrew and Dunbarton in the central 

 lowlands of Scotiand (Harrison 1990) and County 

 Louth in eastern Ireland (Mytum forthcoming). 



2. 1 am very grateful to John Reis for informing me of this 

 source. 



3. A copy of the main text was used by the parish, and is 



now in the Wiltshire County Record Office 

 (henceforth WRO), 1121/14, but this volume does 

 not contain the appendix referred to here. 



4. Cherhill was united to Calne in a Deed of Consolidation 



in 1733, and so the vicar of Calne was responsible 

 for services until a Rector was instituted in 1844 

 (Blackford 1941, 1 19-1 20). The vicar referred to here 

 was Canon Guthrie, mentioned by name with 

 reference to the stones in Plenderleath's list of 

 churchyard monumental inscriptions (1883), WRO 

 1121/8,332. 



5. Rev. Farley, mentioned by name in WRO 1121/8, 332. 



6. This pattern has been noted in Wales (Mytum 1990), 



and Orkney (Tarlow 1999), and is thought to be a 

 national trend (Tarlow 1998). Houlbrooke (1999) 

 suggests that the late 17th century marks the 

 beginning of relatively large numbers of external 

 memorials, but this is rather the time when post- 

 medieval memorials first appear, and then continue 

 at a very low level for a century before there is a rapid 

 rise in numbers and an increased sophistication in 

 their form. Only the headstones from the later 1 8th 

 century onwards would have been suitable for late 

 re-use, the earlier examples being small, thick, and 

 much more crudely carved. 



7. The replacement of headstones is frequent in Ireland. 



Often here the original memorial is laid on top of the 



grave, though it may subsequently be removed or 

 buried. Names of those on the original memorial may 

 be inscribed on the new monument in whole or part, 

 or the commemoration may start afresh. Frequent 

 tidying of English graveyards would make the survival 

 of replaced headstones rare. 



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