WOODEN GRAVEBOARD IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARGARET'S

WOODEN GRAVEBOARD IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARGARET'S, DARENTH HILL

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Overview

Wooden graveboard. Dated 1859. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393372
Date first listed:: 06-Jul-2009
List Entry Name:: WOODEN GRAVEBOARD IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARGARET'S
Statutory Address:: WOODEN GRAVEBOARD IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARGARET'S, DARENTH HILL

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393372
Date first listed:: 06-Jul-2009
List Entry Name:: WOODEN GRAVEBOARD IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARGARET'S
Statutory Address 1:: WOODEN GRAVEBOARD IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARGARET'S, DARENTH HILL

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: WOODEN GRAVEBOARD IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST MARGARET'S, DARENTH HILL

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Kent
District:: Dartford (District Authority)
Parish:: Darenth
National Grid Reference:: TQ 56085 71296

Reasons for Designation

The wooden graveboard in the churchyard of St Margaret's Church, Darenth is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

* As a relatively rare survival of a Victorian wooden graveboard dating from 1859 * For its legible and good quality carved inscription and maxim * For its historical interest as an example of the type of funeral monument that the Industrial Revolution largely rendered obsolete through access to relatively cheap monumental stone.

Details

989/0/10026 06-JUL-09

DARENTH DARENTH HILL Wooden Graveboard in the Churchyard of St Margaret's

II

Wooden graveboard. Dated 1859.

DESCRIPTION: Long horizontal wooden board, probably in oak, morticed into wooden square section posts with moulded waisted pyramidal finials. The finials are in poor condition particularly the right hand one. The obverse of the marker has the incised inscription in 'IN MEMORY OF ANN ROGERS/ Died Sep 13 1859 Aged/ 61 years'. The reverse carries the epitaph 'BE YE ALWAYS READY'. The quality of the lettering is high. Located approximately 15m north of the Church of St Margaret.

HISTORY: The graveboard was erected in memory of Anne Rogers who died 10 October 1859, aged 61. The memorial was recorded in the summer of 1920 by the antiquarian Leland L Duncan who noted inscriptions of interest in over 80 Kent churchyards. It would have been positioned longitudinally along the grave. Wooden graveboards were a once common feature in English churchyards, especially in those southern counties without sources of good monumental stone; their use was particularly widespread in Surrey, Kent and around the Chilterns. However, in view of the vulnerability of exposed timber to decay, remaining examples, particularly from the C18 and C19, are now rather rare. By the late-1850s a wooden grave marker would probably have been the mark of either relative poverty or conservatism. The industrial revolution and the railways had made suitable stone for headstones available at affordable prices for far more people than had been the case previously. Consequently wooden markers were much less common even in the south, as a stone headstone was usually preferred by those able to afford them.

SOURCES: Child, Mark: Discovering Churches and Churchyards. Shire Publications (2007) Lees, Hillary: English Churchyard Memorials (2000)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The wooden graveboard in the churchyard of St Margaret's Church, Darenth is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

* As a relatively rare survival of a Victorian wooden graveboard dating from 1859; * for its legible and good quality carved inscription; * for its historical interest as an example of the type of funeral monument that the Industrial Revolution largely rendered obsolete through access to relatively cheap monumental stone.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 505501
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Child, M, Discovering Churches and Churchyards, (2007)
Lees, H, English Churchyard Memorials, (2000)

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.