Remembering a beloved father.

An oak tree that had stood in their family garden was the starting point for the design of this memorial for a beloved father, John Warnford-Davis, made by Tom Sargeant. John’s children all remembered playing around and in the tree while they were growing up at the family home. Discussing their ideas with Tom for a gravestone to commemorate their father, they developed the idea to use the concept of this tree to depict their family.

The headstone, carved in Honnister green slate, features a tree in relief-carving, surrounded by 4 red kites (the headstone is fixed in the Chilterns where red kites were successfully introduced). Within the branches of the tree are 17 acorns – one to represent each of his grandchildren. Tom designed brush-influenced capital letters for the simple inscription.

Tom says “As makers of bespoke memorials, we have the opportunity to make artworks that remember people as individuals. I love the idea that the grandchildren and perhaps their children can, in the future, visit the stone and see their own unique connection to John.”