Headstone and grave of chemist John Walker, inventor of the friction match who died in 1870 at the age of 84 years. The grave is in the grounds of St. Marys Church, Norton.
Photograph courtesy of Tim Hardy
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
The “Skull and Crossbones” flag was the original and official flag of the Knights Templars navy the story goes that just before the purge by Philip King of France on 13 Oct 1400″s, long before Columbus, the fleet escaped and set sail out of a french harbour in two sections one going to Scotland and the other MAYBE sailing to what we now know as America but it is documented they sailed under the “Skull and Crossboness” flag.
There are convict headstones on Norfolk Island bearing the skull and crossbones – they are said to represent the graves of Freemasons – I have my doubts. The explanations given by other postings e.g. the inevitability of death seem more plausable. I am going to Norfolk Island again next week and will check whether the graves in question are convicts of Scottish origin. There is also one grave in the Norfolk Island cemetery that has several Masonic symbols on the headstone – he was however, a ships officer who died whilst at Norfolk Island.
The skull and crossbones or Death”s Head is also a very common symbol of mortality on Scottish lowland gravestones. It was used to represent death. Often there is an accompanying inscription “Memento mori” “Remember that you must die”. Both the Death”s Head and the inscription are a reminder that death comes to everyone. Here in Scotland the common interpretation by children is also (in error) a “pirates grave”! Also up here there is no link between this symbol and freemasonry.
Skull and crossbones on a gravestone used to indicate a freemason.
Near to this grave, and just in the shade of the west wall of the church, there is a small headstone that bears no inscription, only the symbol of a skull and cross bones. When we were youngsters, this of course meant that this was the grave of a pirate. It has since been suggested that the stone marks the grave of an early plague victim, possibly buried here before the mass grave in Bradbury Road was created. Does anyone know if this is true or is there another explanation?
To Cliff and Stan. The original headstone was removed from the churchyard, and you are correct that it did end up at Preston Park, presumably to preserve it from further erosion. The current headstone at St. Mary”s is a replica and is already showing some weathering.
Cliff Thornton: I think the headstone at Preston Hall was a replica which I am sure was at the bottom of the stairs in the Green Dragon Museum until the recent conversion to a recording studio.
Tim Hardy – has the headstone always been there in St Mary”s churchyard? I ask as I have vague memories of the Walker headstone languishing in the period street at Preston Park in the 1970s.