Graveyards are open air museums where it is possible to walk amongst the exhibits – the gravestones – and examine at first hand art and sculpture from a by-gone age. Many gravestones, particularly those dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, have elaborate carvings on them. These can include symbols of death such as a skull, crossed bones, hourglass, bell and coffin. Trade symbols and symbols associated with religious orders and secret societies also appear on gravestones. In this part of the website you can examine a selection of photographs of gravestones from selected graveyards in Northern Ireland. As we collect more images the number of graveyards featured in this section will increase.