Detail of the gravestone of William Paterson and Mary Leitch, 1749, in the churchyard of New Kilpatrick Parish Church.

Description Detail of the gravestone of William Paterson and Mary Leitch, 1749, in the churchyard of New Kilpatrick Parish Church.

Date 1986

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

Catalogue Number A 34366

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 1567932

Scope and Content Gravestone of William Paterson and Mary Leitch, New Kilpatrick Parish Church, Manse Road, Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire. This gravestone features a crown, hammer (left) and what may be a 'swageing' tool (used for moulding metal) or a conjoined hammer (right), the tools of a blacksmith. The crown emblem shows that the deceased was a member of the Guild of Hammermen. Two rosettes mark the capitals of fluted 'pilasters' on the outside edges of the stone, and the inscribed panel is recessed with an 'egg-and-dart' pattern moulded border. The Guild of Hammermen was open to any craftsman who used a hammer on metal as part of their work. The incorporation included such trades as armourers, glovers, pewterers, hookmakers, saddlers, coppersmiths, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, gunsmiths, girdlemakers, cutlers and watchmakers. Members of the guild were entitled to use the emblem of the royal crown on their gravestones, but some chose to join separate guilds and display the tools of their individual trade. This gravestone, dated 1749, commemorates William Paterson and his wife Mary Leitch. It is inscribed: 'THIS IS THE PLACE/APPOINTED FOR BUR/YING WILLIAM PA/TERSON & MARY/LEITCH HIS SPOWSE/WITH THEIR CHLDREN'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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