A graveyard urn

Urns,  often atop a column, are common monuments in Victorian graveyards. They hark back to Roman times when cremation was more common than burial and the ashes were placed in a simple marble box or pot known as an urna, from the Latin urere, meaning "to burn." 

Draped urns, such as this one in our local graveyard, are usually taken to mean that the soul has departed the shrouded body for its journey to heaven.