Carved symbols were more important than names in the 17th and early 18th century headstones. The skull, crossbones and hourglass were a reminder of the mortality of man, whereas an angel blowing a trumpet, or a winged head promised ascension to heaven, at least for the chosen elect.

Symbols of a craft might be carved - a mason's trowel, a smith's hammer, a gardener's pruning hook, and sometimes but not always initials and a date. To the North side of every church was an area devoid of stones, reserved for the poor, the outcast and strangers. Even from the grave the family of means could assert their separateness from the anonymous mass.