View of headstone, soul makes top shape, Green Man below on drape. Janet Liwd + 1712.
B 4102/8
Description View of headstone, soul makes top shape, Green Man below on drape. Janet Liwd + 1712.
Date 1988
Collection Papers of Betty Willsher, historian, St Andrews, Scotland
Catalogue Number B 4102/8
Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images
Copies SC 548918
Scope and Content West face of 'The Bowden Skull' gravestone, Bowden Church, Scottish Borders Several headstones within the churchyard display a very high quality of craftsmanship, indicating that the parish of Bowden had access to a highly skilled mason in the first half of the 18th century. A finely carved winged cherub symbolises the heavenward ascent of the soul of the departed, its head and wings forming the stone's pediment. Holding a swag or ribbon in his mouth, the cat-like Green Man is a symbol of renewal and regeneration in Paradise. Sometimes grotesque, cat-like or human, the foliate face of the Green Man appears in many medieval churches across Britain. Only in post-Reformation Scotland does the Green Man appear as a gravestone ornament, copied from those in churches and abbeys. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
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