View of headstone showing Adam and Eve and gardeners tools, Polmont Old Churchyard.

Description View of headstone showing Adam and Eve and gardeners tools, Polmont Old Churchyard.

Date c. 1980

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

Catalogue Number SC 789626

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of J 5976 CS

Scope and Content Gravestone of 'T S' and 'E C', Polmont Old Church and Graveyard, Bo'ness Road, Polmont, Falkirk This stone features Adam and Eve, beside the apple tree, being tempted by the serpent to take the forbidden fruit. The scene symbolises the fall of man, obedience to God, and the hope of redemption offered by Christ (sometimes called 'the second Adam'). Beside the figures are flowers and a scythe and pruning knife, the emblems of a gardener. A rake can just be seen at the base of the stone. The top part of the stone features a winged hourglass (emblem of time, literally, 'flying'), and a skull and crossed bones, emblems of Death. Adam and Eve are often chosen as decoration for the gravestones of gardeners due to their associations with the Garden of Eden. The biblical quote along the top of the stone is from Luke 12: 27: 'Consider the lilies how they grow: yet they toil not, they spin not; yet I say onto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like these'. The quote has been chosen because of its floral reference, as well as its message of God's provision for all creation. This gravestone commemorates 'T S' and 'E C', 1754 The date alone remains of an earlier inscription, which had been re-cut when the stone was reused by another family. The stone is inscribed: 'Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these' Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference BWA/23/S

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/789626

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap