Framed

This isn't the clearest photo ever, Ronald Hackston took the pic and is no David Bailey, but it shows a Seventeenth century gravestone from a Kirkyard just across the road from my Mumsey's house. She lives in Cupar a small Scottish town in the Kingdom of Fife. I went to school in Cupar and lived there for several years yet had absolutely no appreciation whats so-ever of its history or architecture.

This gravestone fascinates me as it represents the final resting place of two heads and a hand removed from Coventantor martyrs. Laurence Hay and Andrew Pitulloch were hung in Edinburgh's grassmarket and then beheaded. David Hackston of Rathillet had both his hands cut off, was hung but cut down while still alive before being disemboweled and having his heart removed. Their deaths and dismemberment was designed to act as a warning to others and various parts of David Hackston were deposited around Scotland to further reinforce the message that resistance to Episcopalianism was futile. The moral of the story, don't murder Bishops and don't mess with the Scots, we are a blood thirsty race.
I like the uncompromising and graphic representation of the heads and hand. Even everyday gravestones from this period in Europe had quite grisly imagery of skulls, crossbones, sands of time and interment tools. All quite different to the angelic scenes on Victorian graves.
I couldn't link this image to Flickr as I haven't joined up with Flickr and don't have a Yahoo account but I am getting the gist of it all I think....well maybe.
Toodle-pip