What Are Ledgerstones: Their History

Ledgerstones - described by Dr Roger Bowdler as "the ugly duckling of church memorials" - form a distinct class of English funerary monuments whose ancestry can be traced back to the Middle Ages, from the 11th century carved lids of stone coffins through to the incised stones of the 14th and early 15th centuries. Relatively cheap and easy to fashion, ledgerstones were favoured by the middling sort as grave markers.
The ledger of polished black or white stone, reciting the name, age at death and, in instances, the social quality and occupation of the deceased was a popular form of commemoration between about 1625 and 1850, when intramural burial ceased as a result of the 1852 Burial Act. Almost always aligned to the east, they were considered by many as monuments in their own right, though during the 18th century they were frequently laid in association with neighbouring mural monuments. The traditional brevity of the information given allowed for a number of commemorative inscriptions on each stone. Frequently chipped around the edges, indicating their uplifting to facilitate further deposits, they remain as silent witnesses to village and town society at the close of Early Modern England through to the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign.
Since c1850 memorial stones have continued to be set into church floors as a form of commemoration detached from the actual place of burial, though in more recent years cremated remains have sometimes been deposited beneath them. A wide variety of materials have been used , and many stones bear important examples of the letter cutter's art up to the present day.
Initiation of the Survey
The idea of creating a database of the legerstones came about as the initiative of our Vice-President, Dr Julian Litten, when, at the Society's AGM in 2001, he introduced the project as the Society's millennium exercise.
Objectives of the Survey
The Ledgerstone Survey is seen as the logical progression from the recording of memorial brasses and has the support of the Ancient Monuments Society, the Cathedral Fabrics Commission for England, the Church Conservation Trust, the Council for British Archaeology, the Council for the Care of Churches, the Ecclesiological Society, English Heritage, the Federation of Family History Societies, the Friends of Friendless Churches, the Heraldry Society, ICOMOS UK, the Monumental Brass Society, NADFAS, the Scouting Association, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Society of Genealogists and the SPAB. The objective of the Survey are as follows:

1. To record and survey every Ledgerstone within places of worship in England and Wales
2. To expand the nation's interest in funerary monuments within churches
3. To involve, as recorders, volunteers from 'stakeholder' organisations
4. To offer as a means of fulfilling the National Curriculum History, Local History and Heritage modules in primary and secondary education
5. To offer recording as History, Local History and Heritage modules for the University of the Third Age
6. To offer recording as a means for the Scouting Association's Heritage and History badges