Despite the gravestones in the main picture, this is actually a slightly frivolous post! Having enjoyed the combination of Doe and Crust in my post on No 4 Middle Row, Ashford Town, it reminded me of the photos I had taken of these two gravestones.
The first, nearest my dog (him, again), is for Edward Love.
The second, trefoil-shaped one in the feature photo is for Edward Hart.
I enjoyed the fact that “Love” and “Hart” were right next to each other to make “Love-Hart”, even if the spelling of “Hart” here actually means an adult male red deer.
Then, in my usual stream of consciousness that occurs as I walk around the cemetery (raised eyes emoticon …), I remembered that the Doe of Doe and Crust in my Middle Row post, means adult female deer. It got me thinking about the heritage of hunting in Ashford, as referenced in my post on King’s Wood.
So, imagine my delight when I went to scratch the tummy of my dog as he was lying next to these two graves, to see that he was resting on the wonderfully-aspirate-sounding grave of “Harold Hamilton Hunter” …
Surnames, much like placenames, often come from occupations or nicknames, and say much about the jobs or characteristics of a person’s ancestors. Perhaps, here, all these names had a particular resonance with the hunting heritage around Ashford.
