Ref - SMMMLNB03

Alias - Charters Stone

County - Midlothian

Parish - Newbattle 

Graveyard - Newbattle Graveyard 

Year -  Unknown

Stone - Red sandstone 

Motifs - Skull,  bone, hourglass, handbell (possible), angle (possible) drapery.

Insciption - HERE RESTS THE CORPS OF … CHARTER SPOUSE TO RONALD BELL. (Willsher notes)

Description  - Now standing around 75cm tall from where it emerges from the grass, the bottom part of this pillared stone is submerged beneath the ground, obscuring some of the inscription. At the head of one side faces a skull, carved in the round and flanked by two botanical volutes. Below is a single bone, and a ribbon scroll which appears to have borne a memento mori inscription. Below this, the inscription on the panel is framed by drapery which hangs from the upper terminals of the pillars. On the opposite face is another inscription, of which a transcription has not yet been made. There is an hourglass of the usual type, below the remains of either an angel or handbell. These are flanked by two sets of incised initials.