Graveyard Papers: Geological Explorations in the Main Burial Grounds of the Reading Area.

The main burial grounds of the Reading area are associated with five medieval parish churches. The earliest burials with dated grave-markers at these sites began at the start of the 18th century. Broadly similar assemblages of geomaterials were used for grave-markers (cremations excluded) in these burial grounds. Allowing for some differences between sites, they vary compositionally in an orderly way over time, reflecting changing tastes and the falling cost of transporting stone from distant sources. Because grave-markers are expensive, non-essential items, their incidence in the burial grounds is a sensitive indicator of changing socioeconomic conditions in the communities they served. The economic effects of the Napoleonic Wars, the Great Agricultural Depression, and the First and Second World Wars are all reflected in the extent to which grave-markers were commissioned from monumental masons.