Hello Trish, That is exactly what I thought too. I reckon this must all be explained somewhere. Apparently the ones with inscriptions on the west face may often be of people with Scottish ancestry, so might be some old Scottish custom? If so then might expect many in Presbyterian sections ???? Have you ever seen any E-W trending headstones in amongst the normal N-S trending ones? I have, and in asking why it is so that has been the only story I have heard. Re "And I thought that incriptions on the back of headstones was to respect those buried there, so you didn't walk over their grave to read the inscription" that makes good sense too. So maybe that is why the custom arose in the first place? I'd suspect that somebody on this list would be likely to know answers to such things? Cheers, John ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At 11:43 AM 2/02/2010 +1100, you wrote: >Hi John, >I thought headstones faced east, ready to greet the dawn on the Day of >Resurrection.to face the final judgment - although I've noticed not all >cemeteries follow the practice, but most older ones do. I've never heard >your theory on suicides being buried in a different direction, I'd be >interested to know if it is true. >And I thought that incriptions on the back of headstones was to respect >those buried there, so you didn't walk over their grave to read the >inscription. >I always learn something from this List, so look forward to reading other >answers you receive. >Cheers >Trish >Nowra NSW >> But I have another question for people .. why do some (such as Wesleyan >> Methodists) put their inscriptions on the 'back sides' of headstones (the >> western face)? >> Another possible question is why do some few headstones trend not N-S but >> E-W (but I already gather that this may be to signify the person committed >> suicide .. is that correct?). >> John > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-NSW-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >