This carte was produced by Samuel Poulton of 352 Strand, London, whose studio operated from these premises between 1861 & 1864; in addition, he published photographs from the same address until 1866. The image, therefore, dates from the early to mid 1860s.
The photograph depicts the eastern end of St. Andrew's Parish Church in Sonning, Berkshire and features two men amongst the graves in the churchyard. It records the bed-head shaped grave markers known as 'leaping-boards', which were common currency in English churchyards from the 14th or 15th centuries onwards. Although mostly made of wood, some were also fabricated from cast-iron, many of which were sacrificed to recycling for the war effort in 1939.
Sadly, being of predominantly wooden construction, means that very few original examples are extant; notable exceptions include those at St. Mary's in East Barnet, Hertfordshire. Aside from their predisposition to rot and fall apart, I am not certain as to why leaping-boards fell out of favour. Perhaps changes in burial practices and space limitations were factors in their demise; whatever the reason, they finally became redundant in the early 1870s.
No comments:
Post a Comment