About
Topic List
How to Contribute
- Add a comment: The most simple way to contribute is to add a comment to a monument page. Your comment can be anything: A correction, an additional link, or further information of any sort about the monument or the person it represents.
- Send an image: Contributing a new image helps the collection grow. Images can be of monuments already listed, or monuments not yet listed. At minimum, please include the name of the person the monument represents, and the source of the image. Keep in mind, the image must not be copyrighted (unless you are the owner, and you give explicit permission to use it). All images will be attributed appropriately.
- Photographs: Pictures of actual monuments. Be sure that the location allows distribution of photographs taken there.
- Digitized images: Scanned or photographed from books or other physical works.
- Send a monument list: Finding additional monuments to list is an important goal. A list you send can be compared against the existing database to find unlisted monuments. Keep in mind that some monuments have neither an image on another website nor a freely available image. Approximately 150 monuments are not listed here for this reason.
- Large-scale contribution: If you are interested in contributing a large number of monuments (listings & images), especially of a type and time frame not yet covered, this can be arranged. Please contact me directly. No special technical knowledge is required.
About the Data
This website is not a primary source, nor is it a secondary source. Instead, this website is a tertiary source; a compilation of information from secondary sources.
Each monument is assigned a year. In the best case, this year is when the monument was created. Failing this, it is the year the represented person died. If even this is not available, an approximate year is assigned based on armour and monument characteristics. The monument's approximate year is clearly marked if this is the case.
Each monument is assigned a location. The vast majority have complete location information, that is, a country, a region, a city (or town), and a place (such as a church). This location is always the earliest known location. If the monument has since been moved (to a neighboring church, a museum, etc), it is noted in the comments section.
This website is intended to be a starting point for further research, and a way to quickly peruse a timeline of monuments. You should independently research any particular monuments of interest to be sure all data is accurate.
The complete data and image collection on this website is available for download. If you have a specific need, please let me know, and I can export the data in a format that is convenient for you. Additionally, all images hosted on this site (not linked images, for copyright reasons) are available for download in a single package upon request.
About the Images
All full-size images hosted on this site are not copyrighted (under US copyright law). They are in the public domain, and may be freely used for any application. This website does not claim ownership of any images. Generally, the images come from two types of sources. The first is books out of copyright (those published before 1923). The second is books published after 1923, but using images from another source that was published before 1923. Images from these books are only used if a source of the image is given, and that source can be verified as out of copyright. For further information on copyrights as they apply in these cases, please visit Cornell's page on public domain.
This website displays "preview" (reduced size) images for both images hosted on this website, and for images on pages that are linked, as a search aid. This practice is covered by the fair use doctrine. Nevertheless, should the owner of an image object despite this, its "preview" will be removed. Images are kept in a number of sizes: the original, large (1000 pixels in the longest dimension), medium (500 pixels in the longest dimension), and smaller preview sizes. Certain sizes may be unavailable if the original is smaller than the threshold of that size. Some monuments have images that look the same. This is because two sources used the same image, and both are included for completeness.
If you use the content from this website elsewhere, you are not required to cite this website as as source. You should, however, cite the original source, as listed. If you do use content from this website, mentioning the website would be helpful. Since this website is intended to be a collaborative effort, the more individuals exposed to it, the better. In the end, we would all benefit.
Website Issues
- You may hotlink directly to images on this website if you are using them in a non-commercial context. You don't need to save and rehost the image elsewhere. Each image page includes a tag you can copy and paste for use on discussion boards.
- Links to images on other websites may break. Please use the contact options if this occurs. If the link has merely changed, it will be updated.
- Reports of errors on this website or suggestions for improvement are welcome. Refer to the contact options.
Book Digitizations Needed
This is a list of books that contain images that would be very useful.
- Hollis, Thomas, and George Hollis. 1840. The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain. London: John Bowyer Nichols.
A copy of this book was accessed at the UCLA's Charles E. Young Research Library. It was missing many pages, so coverage of the book on this site is incomplete. There are a number of drawings in this book that are unique and not to be found elsewhere. - Gough, Robert. 1786. Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain. London: T. Payne and son (Volumes 1 and 2)
This book has many of high quality images that are not published elsewhere. I have viewed the book and verified this fact, but was unable to make reproductions. It is a very old book and therefore difficult to access. - Chancellor, Frederic. 1890. The ancient sepulchral monuments of Essex. Chelmsford: C. F. Kell.
I was only able to access this book on microfilm. For this reason, the quality of those images presented on this site is poor. The original book's images are quite detailed.