View of gravestone. Digital image of B 4315/18

Description View of gravestone. Digital image of B 4315/18

Date 1991

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

Catalogue Number SC 800997

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 4315/18

Scope and Content Gravestone commemorating Robert Wyld and his family, Walston Parish Church and Churchyard, South Lanarkshire Although little detail has survived of the portrait's face, it offers an insight into how ordinary men dressed at this time, though the clothes his portrait show may be a suit of 'Sunday best' or perhaps reflect the family's own aspirations to wealth. The tricorn, or three-cornered hat, was highly fashionable in the early 18th century and this portrait of Robert is shown wearing one over his curled hair. Beneath his long cloak which reaches almost to his feet, he appears to be wearing the knee-length, full-skirted coat which was common for men in the 18th century. These were usually made of wool, the more expensive examples being fine English cloth, while the poorer man relied on homespun cloth. Although not shown by this portrait, he would have worn breeches to the knee with stockings. Fashionable gentlemen of the day wore silk, while the poor would have worn more modest woollen stockings. In the portrait, the shoes are indistinct, but appear to be the rounded shoes popular at the time. This memorial to Robert Wyld is similar to a gravestone of the same date in nearby West Linton. Both the shape of the stone itself and the way the figures are posed suggest they were cut by the same mason, or perhaps by someone familiar with the other stone. This gravestone commemorates Robert Wyld, who died in 1705, along with his wife Agnas who died in 1723 aged 63, and five of their children, all of whom died young. The inscription reads: 'Here lys the corps of Robert/Wyld who died July 1705 aged/63 & of Agnas Wyld his spouse/who died 26 June 1723 aged/67 & Robert Thomas James/John & Agnas Wylds their children'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/800997

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap