Headstones

Went for a drive today and saw a very old church. I love old churches, like the Norman church at Quneington. Not because I particularly care for churches, but because I love the stone carvings.

Up here in Scotland you find a particularly strange headstone carving. Surrounded by beauty such as this:

There is a rather crude, but extremely to-the-point symbol:

I first saw them in a church in Auchtermuchty, but they seem to appear all over the region.

Reminds me a little of the baby in bandages over in Horka, in that it looks rather more pragmatic than picturesque. 

Also plenty of Celtic Crosses - the knotwork symbolising reincarnation and the continual cycle of life, death and rebirth, neatly sewn into another religion's symbol of death as ascension. Cute juxtaposition. 

And, finally, an incredible symbol - what appears to be an eagle pinning down something like a swan (seems to have a long neck). Truly entertaining as my friend introduced me to Game of Thrones, and we've been watching it solidly for two days. Though it would also work well for the Hamleighs in Pillars of the Earth. 

All of this at the foot of an old Cailleach mound.

There is little question which of the two has more life in it.