A MAIDEN’S GARLAND
Hanging from the ceiling in the quiet of Ashford church are four memorials to women of the village who died young. Known as crantses, or maidens’ garlands, they are rare survivors of what was once a custom across much of Britain. From a lantern-shaped frame of wood, wreathed with paper and decorated with rosettes, hangs a white handkerchief, inscribed with the name of the dead girl and the date she died. The garland was carried into church before the coffin, probably to represent the wedding garland the girl would never know, and left there. Sometimes, real flowers and ribbons were used for decoration and white gloves instead of a handkerchief. One of the garlands at Ashford is inscribed with the name of Anne Howard, who died on 12 April 1747; a faded one is recorded as having been made for Ann Swindel, aged 22, in 1798. The others are now unreadable, although tradition has it that one was for a woman who drowned in the Wye.