Cramond Church, graveyard Detail of tombstone, James Spotswood, 1707
A 42909
Description Cramond Church, graveyard Detail of tombstone, James Spotswood, 1707
Date 1987
Collection Papers of Betty Willsher, historian, St Andrews, Scotland
Catalogue Number A 42909
Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images
Copies SC 560047
Scope and Content Gravestone of James Spottiswode, Cramond Churchyard, Edinburgh This gravestone commemorates James Spottiswode, a farmer, who died in 1707 aged 73. Also buried here is his wife, Agnes, who died in 1675 aged 32. Sporting tusks and leaf-shaped ears, the Green Man at the top of the stone symbolises life's renewal. The cornucopia and leaf-scroll flanking the inscription are in a similar vein, expressing the hope of Paradise. The hourglass signifies human mortality. 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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