The leaning monument of Foveran

This monument in the Foveran graveyard is looking very precarious, to my mind dangerously so. Many older monuments, often of great size and weight, sit on a foundation of just a few house bricks placed on the bare soil. As you can see, the stone at the end of the line has already fallen to the ground. Perhaps the monumental masons should have paid more heed to the parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders? Urns, draped or otherwise, often atop a column, are common monuments in older Scottish graveyards, although this one is relatively new, dated 1934.They hark back to Roman times when cremation was more common than burial and the ashes were placed in a simple marble box or pot known as an urna, from the Latin urere, meaning "to burn." The modern draped urn, is usually taken to mean that the soul has departed the shrouded body for its journey to heaven.

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