The Vancouver Memorial Headstones have been talked about in this blog. Because the cemetery has been moved four times, it is hard to understand our history. Since it has been around in some form or another since the 1830s, Woodland is a good example of every popular cemetery style since then.
To make the most of our unique history,
this blog will do a short miniseries on the history of cemetery styles and ideas, starting with the churchyard and classic Victorian cemeteries.
A churchyard is exactly what it sounds like: a piece of land next to or inside a church where members of that church are buried. This style was popular in Canada and Europe when they were young. It works best in small towns and the countryside. This is the style St. Paul’s church would have had at our first location. Early gravestones were usually very simple and were often put there after the person was buried. How many headstones there were and how much they were decorated depended on how good the carvers were.
The Victorian Era and the Rural Cemetery Movement
The most beautiful and well-known style of cemetery may be the Victorian Cemetery. It’s still a common style to see in movies and TV shows because it’s unique and interesting.
In fact, it’s probably the style you know best. Even if you don’t know. When we think of cemeteries today, we still think of many of the things that made Victorian cemeteries special.
Queen Victoria was in charge of the country from 1837 to 1901. On the other hand, the Victorian Era is usually thought to have been from about 1820 to 1914. Even though this time period only applies to the United Kingdom as a whole, their cultural influence was felt all over the empire at the time.
Of course, London, Ontario, was no different.
People’s ideas about social systems, death, and the body changed a lot during the roughly 80 years of the Victorian Era. But some parts of the Victorian cemetery are still easy to see and know.
The Victorian cemetery has some very special features. All of these things were a lot changed by the way classes were set up.
Some of these are family plots, fences, or big monuments. The Vancouver Memorial Headstones are also one of these things.
You might notice that the plots look bigger in the older parts of Woodland. Family plots are exactly what they sound like. They are big pieces of land that a family would own and that have room for several graves. When scholars say that Victorian cemeteries show class differences, they mean things like the fact that some people could own land and give it to their children.
There might be a big stone with all the names of the people who are buried there on these Vancouver Memorial Headstones. Most of the time, writing was on all sides of these bigger family monuments. But they may also have smaller markers that show where each family member is buried.
Most of the time, these family plots have stone or metal fences around them.
In the 1800s, families were told to treat their grave plots like any other property and keep strangers istanbul Eskort away. Probably the most Victorian thing you can think of is a fence around a graveyard. These fences could be made of stone or metal.
Another common kind of grave fence in the Vancouver Memorial Headstones was a curb set.
A curb set is basically a grave fence for a single grave rather than a family lot. Kerb sets might be a cheaper option. If a stone curb was too expensive, the new grave could be marked by a permanent earth platform on top of a raised mound. This would give people who come to visit a place to leave their things. Even though the raised mound hasn’t been used as a grave for more than a century, it is still connected to the idea of a “fresh grave.”
During the Victorian era, most of the big monuments were made of marble and, later, granite. Carvers liked working with marble because it is a soft, white stone that is easy to shape. In the end, granite won out because it lasts longer.
Most of the time, these big monuments were decorated with Christian or classical symbols. Headstones
On top of Christian monuments, you can often see angels and crosses. One thing that made the Victorian cemetery stand out was the classics. People in Victorian England were very interested in Rome, Greece, and Egypt from the past.
The one that stands out the most is the obelisk from Egypt. You can find them in old graveyards in the United States, Canada, and Europe. They were usually put up with other decorations. more
