19th-Century Victorian Gravestone Motifs

1800’s Gravestone Symbols and Victorian Cemetery Motifs

From clasped hands and pointing fingers to willows, roses, anchors, and urns, 1800’s gravestone symbols offer a rich visual language of mourning, memory, faith, and family. This guide explores Victorian gravestone symbols and Victorian cemetery motifs commonly found in 19th-century burial grounds.

All of these symbols are also available to add to your Elegy & Ivy custom gravestone prop.

Click to read brief explanations of what each image traditionally meant and how these carvings reflected changing attitudes toward death, mourning, and remembrance.