Skull and Crossbones at Eggbuckland Cemetery

Anyone visiting the cemetery at St Edwards Church at Eggbuckland, and many other cemeteries around the country, might think that they've discovered the graves of pirates when they see the markings of the skull and crossbones on ancient headstones. In Leixlip Church in County Kildare, the same skull and crossbones can be found and it is said that many members of the military are buried there from the time of the crusades. A stone at the southeast corner of the church bears a connection to the Knights Templar Crusaders with a worn symbol of the skull and crossbones. However, the skull and crossbones in Eggbuckland cemetery neither mark the graves of members of the Knights Templar or pirates. Some people have suggested that the graves are the victims of plague, poisoning or that the people buried there were Catholics. The truth is, maybe, not so romantic. In the 1600's and 1700's, attitudes to death were very different to what they were in the 1800's and later. The motifs were put there just as a reminder to the living of what happened to the body after death. People were judged on the lives they led and not hope of forgiveness in the afterlife.