The Service Stone – Steeped in History with the Scars to Prove It!

The Service Stone is the second oldest stone in the cemetery and dates to 1636. It was built by John Service as a memorial to his dad, though Service was a mason so the impressively carved stone was also an advert for his services!

The elaborate carvings are a scene from the book of Job in the Bible and one features the ouroborous as a frame, a snake eating its tail and a symbol of rebirth. The base stone is like a coffin, with the head at the south end, hands to the east and west and feet at the north end! But what makes the stone really cool are the series of musket ball impacts across both sides of the stone from a pitched gunfight during the 1651 Cromwellian siege of the Castle.