Charnwood slate gravestones and eighteenth century trade routes

This is a revised version of a video first uploaded July 2022.
Slate quarried in the Charnwood Forest district of west Leicestershire was used for roofing since Roman times and for gravestones between the 1670s and 1870s. In this video Bob Trubshaw looks at the history of these memorials, noting how the inscriptions change and how any imagery evolves. The commonest image is the so-called ‘Belvoir angel’ - which are not angels at all but ‘soul effigies’.
In addition these gravestones offer a unique insight into otherwise poorly-documented eighteenth century trade routes. These routes extend east through Grantham to the East Anglian coast and also south and east to the limestone quarries near Northampton and Stamford. More local routes went to coal pits in north-west Leicestershire and cheese-making farms in the Vale of Belvoir.
In the previous version of this video I suggested iron was bought in Grantham and sold in the Boston area. But I could find no evidence. I was wrong. John Manterfield correctly identified that the trade from Grantham to East Anglia was malt for brewing, creating a tripartite salt-slate-malt trading system.