alt=The funerary hatchment of Sir Thomas White, 2nd Baronet of Tuxford and Wallingwells (1801–1882) in Tuxford Church|thumb|The funerary hatchment of [[Sir Thomas White, 2nd Baronet<br/>(1801–1882), at Tuxford Church in Nottinghamshire]]
A funerary hatchment is a depiction within a black lozenge-shaped frame, generally on a black (sable) background, of a deceased's heraldic achievement, that is to say the escutcheon showing the arms, together with the crest and supporters of his family or person. Regimental Colours and other military or naval emblems are sometimes placed behind the arms of military or naval officers. Such funerary hatchments would therefore generally be restricted in use to members of the nobility or armigerous gentry, and were hung on the wall of a deceased person's house. from the verb achever, a contraction of à chef venir ("to come to a head"), ultimately from Latin ad caput venire, "to come to a head", thus to reach a conclusion, accomplish, achieve. The word "hatchment" in its historical usage is thus identical in meaning and origin to the English heraldic term "achievement". However, in modern times the word "hatchment" has come to be used almost exclusively to denote "funerary hatchment", whilst "achievement" is now used in place of "hatchment" in a non-funereal context. An example of the historic use of "hatchment" in a non-funerary context to denote what is now termed "achievement" is in the statute of the Order of the Garter laid down by King Henry VIII (1509–1547) concerning the regulation of Garter stall plates:
<blockquote>It is agreed that every knyght within the yere of his stallation shall cause to be made a scauchon of his armes and hachementis in a plate of metall suche as shall please him and that it shall be surely sett upon the back of his stall.</blockquote>
The word appears in Shakespeare's play Hamlet (1599/1602): Laertes laments that his dead father Polonius has "No trophy, sword or hatchment o'er his bones" (Act IV, Scene 5). The word scutcheon, an alternative word for a funerary hatchment, appears in Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1: Falstaff: "Honour is a mere scutcheon, and so ends my catechism." (Act V, Scene 1).
Usage
England
thumb|right|Funerary hatchment of [[Spring baronets|Sir William Spring, 4th Baronet (d.1737), of Pakenham, displayed in Lavenham Guildhall in Suffolk]]
thumb|Hatchment in [[Wymondham Abbey bell chamber, Norfolk]]
thumb|Funerary hatchment at [[Grendon, Northamptonshire|Grendon parish church in Northamptonshire, showing in the dexter half the arms of Compton, Marquess of Northampton]]
The funerary hatchment was usually placed over the entrance door of the deceased's residence at the level of the second floor, and remained in situ for six to twelve months, after which it was removed to the parish church.
Canada
There are eight hatchments in Nova Scotia, Canada, which are located in St. Paul's Church in Halifax. They include:
<gallery>
File:CharlesMorrisStPaulsChurchHalifaxNovaScotia.jpg|Charles Morris (surveyor general)
File:FrancisMcLeanStPaulsChurchHalifaxNovaScotia.jpg|Francis McLean (British army officer)
File:Charles Lawrence hatchment, St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg|Charles Lawrence (British Army officer)
</gallery>
South Africa
thumb|upright=1.4|Some of the rouwborden in the [[Groote Kerk, Cape Town can be seen on the walls below the gallery to the right of this photo.]]
Twenty-nine 18th- and early 19th-century Dutch-style rouwborden ('mourning boards') are known to survive in the province of the Western Cape, which was a Dutch colony from 1652 to 1806. Twenty-five are in the Groote Kerk in Cape Town, one is in the Western Cape Archives, and the other three are in museums.
During the period of Dutch rule, the display of rouwborden was evidently restricted to senior officials and military officers, and a few high-ranking foreign dignitaries who died at the Cape. When the main part of the church building was demolished in 1836, because it had become structurally unsound, the rouwborden were stored in the tower. They were left there after the rebuilt church was completed in 1841, and reportedly deteriorated with the passage of time. Some forty years later, the newly established Colonial Archives rescued twenty-five of them, and they were displayed in the Archives until the church reclaimed them in 1910. They were then hung in the vestry, and it was not until the 1960s that they were hung in the church itself.