View of gravestone commemorating Ann Miller dated 1765 in the churchyard of Coupar Angus Abbey Church.

Description View of gravestone commemorating Ann Miller dated 1765 in the churchyard of Coupar Angus Abbey Church.

Date 1987

Collection Papers of Betty Willsher, historian, St Andrews, Scotland

Catalogue Number A 34539

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 2235341

Scope and Content Gravestone of Ann Miller, Abbey Church, Queen Street, Coupar Angus, Perth & Kinross This gravestone features a central shield with monogram, flanked by two men in belted coats carrying horse harnesses. Above the shield is a helmet surmounted with a bird-shaped crest and surrounded by mantling (leafy drapery). At the top of this stone is a winged soul (symbol of the spirit ascending to Heaven after death), surrounded by an ornately carved border, and below the figures is an inscribed scroll and crossed bones (an emblem of death). The armorial panel on this gravestone does not conform to rules of heraldry, and is an adaptation of a traditional style used by masons for its connotations of wealth and power. Country masons probably copied and adapted the designs from the tombs of the aristocracy, substituting trade emblems, hearts and initials in the panel usually filled with a shield or crest. This gravestone commemorates Ann Miller, who died in 1760. It is inscribed: 'Erected by Charles May, Writer in Coupar Angus/in memory of his spouse Ann Miller who died/22nd March 1760 aged 68'. The spelling of the word 'writer' here is misleading, as the two supporters on the lower part of the stone carry horse harnesses, indicating the deceased was a wright (a craftsman, probably one who in this case made wooden farming equipment). Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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