If what you’re looking for on a headstone, or in a graveyard, or a cemetery begins with the letter C, you will find it here within the graveyard symbols A to Z.
- Cadaver Stones are Memento Mori symbols to remind us of what will become, so live life for today
- Candles mark our allotted time on earth. See Flames
- Canterbury Cross is a Celtic Cross but with shorter arms that flare out towards their ends.
- Celandine in Victorian symbology it represents ‘future joy’.
- Celtic Cross is a cross surrounded by a circle representing eternity or, heaven, and earth connected
- Cemetery Angels – see Angels
- Chalice or Goblet has a variety of meanings
- Cherubs represent innocence and are usually on children’s graves
- Chrisma is a cross formed by the Greek letters chi and rho. see XP
- Circles represent eternity. See also snake swallowing tail
- Clocks or a clock dial is a mortality symbol meaning the passage of time

- Clover seen on a headstone can represent the trinity like the shamrock. Occasionally the lucky 4 four leaf clover is seen. In Victorian symbology it represents ‘promise’.
- Coffin is a mortality symbol, often seen with the Sexton’s tools
- Column represents a persons life. A broken column indicates a life cut short. A wreath over the column is victory over death. The first mention in the bible of a grave marker is a pillar in Genesis 35:20
- Cornucopia is a horn filled with fruit. It shows thankfulness to God
- Crook upside down may represent a shepherd, upwards a priest. Otherwise see Lamb
Explore more than the letter C in Graveyard Symbols
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
- Cross represents Christian faith, but different crosses can also have different meanings
- Crown on a headstone represents the Crown of Life
- Cup contains the blood of Christ and represents the forgiveness of sin by his death on the cross
- Cypress trees in Victorian symbology represents death and morning