Skull and Crossbones marked gravestone?

Question

I have an interest in history and have spent may an hour wandering through my village looking at its history. One day when walking through the ruined church's graveyard i uncovered an gravestone marked by the classic symbol for death etc. a skull and crossbones. I thought about what it meant but was totally stumped as i could not think of why a grave was marked with it, especially in a church graveyard. I payed a visit to the local archives but to no avail, there was very little about this gravestone in the archive documents. I would really like to know why this grave was marked in this way. The grave is very worn but i could just about make it out to be 18th-19th century.

in response to not adding where it is, it its in Northumberland in northen england.

Answer 1

This article will answer your question:

http://www.esolibris.com/articles/alternative_history/skull_crossbones.php

Answer 2

As much as people would like to believe that the skull and cross bones is related to pirates, the knights templar, or whatever else. IT IS simply NOT SO, not EVERYTHING in history is a conspiracy or an elaborate story reaching across decades seeping across nations to make one cohesive answer.

The best defence I can field in response to the fact that the Death's Head (or skull and crossbones) is SIMPLY a recognized symbol for death in the 18th and 19th century is related to an archeological find in my area.

Here's the story....

In 1765 printer Jonas Green who had studied under Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia printed on the front page of the Maryland Gazette a "death's head stamp" in protest to the British Stamp Act (which put a taxes on all paper, a death sentance for a printer at the time). The Death's Head on the front page was meant to symbolize "the death of American liberty." This symbol had to be recognizable enough so that Americans and British had an understanding of its significance. Green luckily was never punished and passed away in 1767 but he struck an early blow in the call for American Independence and an early call for the freedom of speech.

Subsequent colonies followed suit including Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Each have within their archives very similar Death's Head depictions within their archived colonial Gazettes today.

The death's head on grave stones sometimes meant the person had died of posion or diesease but people in the Colonial period were ignorant of germs and would have had no need to stay away from the burial site. The body of the deceased would likely have been burned.

The fact that it was a Templar symbol is unlikey as the descrution of the Templar order occured in 13-7 on Friday, October the 13th (often why its considered unlucky). As well there just wasnt enough Templar so that every grave would be makred with their symbol.
http://www.ronaldbrucemeyer.com/rants/1013a-almanac.htm

Unlikely that is can be related to Piracy as the skull and cross bones called a Jolly Roger has different origins. And again there just weren't that many pirates for each grave to be marked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolly_Roger

The skull and coss bones, of the Death's Head at the time was a societal wide (American/European) recognized image of death. Similar to today that most people will recognize a hooded figure with a scythe as the Grim Reaper, the image of Death.

Answer 3

St Hilda's Church, Whitby, at the top the 199 steps has 3 head stones with the skull and crossbones,pirates graves . I think Whitby Archives will be able to verify the authenticity of the graves, if not you will still have a good day looking .

Answer 4

You don't mention where your village is, and there may be clues there.

He may have been poisoned, as the skull and crossbones was used to indicate poison from about 1850.

He may have been a pirate, and the symbol is a depiction of the "Jolly Rogue" or Jolly Roger. The first known use of the skull and crossbones Jolly Roger was Emmanuel Wynne in about 1700.

Someone may have been trying to indicate some danger in opening the grave.

He may have been a member of a military unit that used the symbol (e.g. Brittish 17th Lancers used the symbol from about 1759) or a secret society like the Yale "Order of the Skull and Bones" which formed in 1832.

Or it may just be the old symbol of death, which is the original use of the symbol dating to antiquity.

Answer 5

Usually that symbol is reserved for something dangerous. It doesn't just mark a death it marks something that causes death.

Maybe that person died of a plague, or of something unknown that looked like it could spread like a disease.

I don't think that the symbol would be used to mark the grave of a pirate, the pirates used that flag to scare their prey and as you see in the movies they didn't hoist the skull and cross bones until right before the battle.

Go to a modern mortuary and ask the staff what they think. If anyone would know the history of grave stones they would. Ask them how they would mark the grave of say someone who was killed by radioactivity so that his body was a hazard itself and would remain so for hundreds of years? How would the mark that body so somebody won't accidental dig it up? That may be why the grave you saw was marked with a skull and crossbones symbol.

Answer 6

When I grew up as a boy in Scotland in the 1960 s, I remember asking my granddad about a flat stone which was approx 24 x 24 square, with a skull and crossbones on it and his explanation was that it was a pirates grave and he was buried standing up , so that his soul would never rest

Answer 7

It is quite common on old gravestones from the 1700's. We just don't see that many except for in old graveyards or where the local stone is very durable.
It was a symbol used on memento mori jewellery as well (commemorative jewellery worn in memory of the dead) where often a lock of the deceased hair was woven into a brooch

Answer 8

They are probably from the 1700s, people often went in for macabre symbols back then. You have your answer above so I won't repeat it. There is a gravestone in a churchyard near where I live that has a skull (symbolising mortality) with a pair of bat wings (symbolising sleep) surrounded by a snake biting its own tail (symbolising eternity).

Answer 9

I really do not have an answer, but I would be interested in more information, such as:

Where is this grave (town, country, etc.)
What are the dates on the headstone, when did the person die?
I noticed one person mention as a symbol for anything dangerous. I am not sure when that started, but if you can date the grave and the location it would help in trying to determine why the mark is on the headstone.

Answer 10

At one time these symbols were used by the Knights Templer and many people thought they marked Templer graves.This as now being discounted as there are thousands of them.They are very common in England,Ireland and New England.Up to present the meaning of the symbols is a matter of conjecture.

Answer 11

Grave of a known pirate!

Do not disturb on pain of death. A horrible death.

"Us is back see and just when you thought it was safe to go in the water....haaarrr!"

Out of the ordinary : a cornucopia of unusual Northumberland parish ... Disused graveyards in Northumberland: extracted from Archaeologia Aeliana, vol. ...
http://www.sog.org.uk/prc/northumberland.shtml

Date: 5 August, 2005 Name: Craig Hennessey Email: [e-mail] Submitted from: Blyth, Northumberland Found: typed 'pirates' in google ...
http://www.rochedalss.qld.edu.au/guestbook/view2aug05.htm