Gravestone, Headstone & Tombstone – Grave Markers
When it comes to choosing a GRAVE MARKER, Grave Stone, Tombstone or HEADSTONE, the end result depends on the message you wish to portray and use to memorialise the deceased.
Traditionally gravestones are used in Jewish, Muslim and Christian amongst other Religious burials.
Sometimes the cemetery can have restrictions on the size and type of gravemarker being used, i.e. standing or flat stone. Should you require a headstone, the Funeral Director will be able to provide you with details on the type of headstone allowed in your chosen cemetery. Generally, as each headstone is made uniquely to fit the family’s and deceased’s wishes, gravestones can be quite costly. Across Ireland there are many Stonemasons and craftsmen specialised in the art of creating tombstones.
This step is something that the grieving family can discuss and get more details from their FUNERAL HOME DIRECTORS.
The placement of the gravestone has a general waiting time of approximately 12 months. This is in order to give the soil time to settle in place. Some newer cemeteries may have specific plots and tombstone areas already concreted and ready for the installation of a GRAVE MARKER. Again, your Funeral Director will be able to provide you with more details.
A Grave Marker is simpler and smaller usually a cross made from wood; whereas a Gravestone is much larger, made from stone and can contain pictures as well as words remembering the deceased.
Typically a Gravestone will contain the deceased’s name, birth and death dates and a brief message from the family. They can also contain pictures or etchings of Angels/Cherubs or even the deceased themselves.
Photographs of gravestones are taken for posterity and sometimes etchings are completed for older gravestones.