Blank CWGC headstone

[BelgianExile]

Hi,

Apologies if this has been covered before - I did have a quick look - but I was in Hawthorne Ridge cemetery at the weekend and found 2 headstones which were completely blank, apart from a cross (pic is below). I've seen totally blank CWGC headstones over local graves at the Albert Communal Cemetery, but not seen blank ones with a cross. My question is why would there be no other inscription on the headstone?

[ralphjd]

Nationality not known or something like that. Just a guess.

[clive_hughes]

What do the stones either side say? It may possibly be that the grave space houses multiple bodies which are named/described on the adjacent stones but which are all together in the one plot. Sure I've come across something like this before: a "blank" stone filling in between stones recording multiple burials.

Clive

[SiegeGunner]

Stones bearing only a cross are placed beside or close to headstones that are so 'busy' with detail (long inscriptions or multiple commemorations) that there is no space on them for the cross.

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

The stone will be flanked by other stones which record multiple burials and do not have room for a cross. Its a fairly common marker in CWGC cemeteries.

I have never seen this form of "headstone" being used adjacent to single burial headstones which have unusually "long inscriptions" which do not allow room for a religious symbol, and it has nothing to do with marking an "unknown" grave or graves.

Tom

[ralphjd]

Interesting , thanks Tom