sentences:  Marriage stones serve as a record of a marriage, the joining together of two families, especially important in aristocratic families and also sometimes practised amongst the newly established and monied middle classes.They were sometimes added to a building which was constructed specifically as the new family home for the married couple, especially when the dowry was large, or were carved into a pre-existing lintel over the main entrance or over a fireplace.The stones also clearly indicated the ownership of the building to onlookers at the time as well as serving as a record for posterity of both marital bliss and often also of social advancement.