2-Eglingham Churchyard Section A Row 1-2- Anderson

Transcription

[Oval dressed stone on top of oblate dressed stone, which is on a rectangular plinth.]

In Affectionate Remembrance of ELIZABETH, daughter of JOHN & ANN ANDERSON of Milkhope , who died at Eglingham JANY  16TH 1875, aged 22 years.

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God “

[Inscription on front of oval top.]

Commentary

DOUBLE BOULDER STONE

TWO SISTERS, TWO CHURCHYARDS, TWO GRAVESTONES, TWO BOULDERS

 

High in the Cheviot hills are two old shepherd’s houses. In the late 19 century, Milkhope was the home of the Anderson family (more recently an outward-bound centre in Kidland Forest), and their great friends and neighbours, the Armstrong’s, lived just a few miles away across the moors at High Blakehope (now Bleakhope Farm) in the Breamish Valley.

Two of John and Ann Anderson’s girls (there were 10 children altogether, eight girls and two boys) have similar, but unusual gravestones. Both went from Milkhope to work as domestic and farm servants at the Armstrong’s farm.  The younger sister, Isabella (Tibbie), stayed at Blakehope and married, James, the fifth son of George and Mary Armstrong. Tibbie was well known in Cheviotdale for her hospitality and lived to be 88. The couple’s gravestone is in Ingram churchyard.

The elder sister, Elizabeth, was born in 1853. By 1871, she had moved to work at Blakehope, and soon after on to Eglingham where she died tragically in 1875 of Typhoid fever aged only 22. Caused by poor sanitation and spread by bacteria in contaminated food and water, it can cause serious medical complications, but in Elizabeth’s case it was fatal. Elizabeth’s unusual gravestone is close to the main gate of St Maurice’s churchyard. It has been placed on top of what is thought to be a medieval cross socket base.

Both sister’s gravestones have unusual memorials which were constructed from two huge granite boulders placed one on top of the other. The stones, rounded by thousands of years of water erosion, were carefully chosen by their families from the River Breamish close to the special place where they had both lived.

The Anderson’s youngest daughter, Sarah, married Samuel Thompson (A1 – 3)

 

Medieval cross socket base

The boundary of churchyards is thought originally to have been marked by crosses at the 4 cardinal points. A surviving medieval cross base at the northern entrance to the churchyard may be either evidence of earlier Christian worship on this site before the building of any church or an early boundary marker. In churchyards medieval crosses served as stations for outdoor processions. Many were destroyed by iconoclasts during 16th and 17thcenturies.

The surviving cross base below Elizabeth’s memorial, has 6 small carved holes which may have been filled with animal fat and wicks to illuminate the cross during religious ceremonies.

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