Ledger stone

Ledger stone to Gertrude Courtenay (1592-1666) of Upcott, Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon, in the Upcott Chapel forming the east end of the north aisle of St Matthew's Church, Cheriton Fitzpaine

A ledger stone or ledgerstone is an inscribed stone slab usually laid into the floor of a church to commemorate or mark the place of the burial of an important deceased person. Ledger stones may also be found as slabs forming the tops of chest tombs.

Etymology

The term "ledger stone" derives from the German word legen, meaning to lie.^[1]

Form

Ledger stones take the form of an inscribed stone slab,^[2] usually laid into the floor of a church to commemorate or mark the place of the burial of an important deceased person. Ledger stones may also be found as slabs forming the tops of chest tombs. An inscription is usually incised into the stone within a ledger line running around the edge of the stone. Such inscription may continue within the central area of the stone, which may be decorated with relief-sculpted or incised coats of arms, or other appropriate decorative items such as skulls, hour-glasses, etc. Stones with inset brasses first appeared in the 13th century.^[1]

Use in England

Many English parish churches contain ledger stones. Over 250,000 stones survive, mostly from the late seventeenth to the late eighteenth centuries,^[3] after which period they are rarer. Since the modern era when burials within church buildings have been discontinued for reasons of health and hygiene, the ledger stone is no longer commonly used, and its function has been taken by the upright inscribed grave stone erected in the church-yard or purpose-made cemetery.

Ledger stones were favoured by the English middle classes as they were cheaper than a more elaborate monument.^[1] They were frequently laid down by the family of the lord of the manor or holder of the advowson of the parish in question, and such family often had its own private chapel within the parish church, often at the east end of the north aisle, where the manorial pew was situated and where members of the family were buried.

Preservation

Because they are floor coverings, ledger stones are vulnerable to wear from foot traffic and damage from structural alterations to churches. The Ledgerstones Survey of England & Wales exists to record the information on the stones before it is lost.^[4]

Gallery

• 

  Ledger stone to William Wadham (died 1452) in the Wadham Chapel in St Mary's Church, Ilminster, Somerset. Situated on a chest tomb with inlaid brass fillet ledger line and monumental brasses.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ledger stones.

• http://www.churchmonumentssociety.org/
• https://www.churchofengland.org/media/1470817/an1%20ledger%20stones%20(1997)%2005.12.pdf
• The Restoration of Wittgenstein's Ledger Stone.