Uncle George recovers his nephew's body from the battlefield.

 

St Martin, Little Ness, Shropshire

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The fog was just starting to lift as we finished surveying this church.

 

 

The body of Maurice Darby was recovered from no-mans-land on the Western Front and returned to England by his uncle George. The more you think about it, the more remarkable

this story becomes! Uncle George clearly couldn't bear the thought of his nephew's body being left unburied so he went into one of the most dangerous places on Earth to recover it.

 

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A memorial to a mute

 St Mary, Ashby Magna, Leicestershire

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The most noteworthy feature of this graveyard was the large number of metal memorials - 25 in all. We had only seen a handful of broadly similar designs in all the churches we had visited in the previous 18 months.

 

 

This lady commemorated at the bottom of this stone appears to have been a mute.

 





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A single drowning and a major shipping disaster.

 

Bridgnorth Cemetery, Bridgnorth, Shropshire

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Although it is not clear in this photograph part of the cemetery is both overgrown and on a steep slope and it was quite hazardous surveying this section.

 

 

Mary Lousia Mulliner was drowned in the River Severn at Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

 

 

In July 1909, the Waratah, en route from Durban to Cape Town, disappeared with 211 passengers and crew aboard. No trace of the ship has ever been found.

 

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Seven of Emma's children died aged 8 or younger.

 

Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester, Leicestershire

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Welford Road is a large cemetery in the middle of the city. Although the "great and the good" are buried here parts of the cemetery are in a very poor condition. However we were impressed by the 100 memorial plaques to notable people buried in this cemetery. The plaques are laid out on the footprint of two demolished chapels. We photographed several of interest and then used the maps provided to find the graves.
 

 

Seven of Emma Harvey's children died aged 8 or younger - 2 only a
few months after their Mother had also died.
 

 





 

Shaddows instead of shadows. Oh dear!

 

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How do you spell George?

 

St Margaret of Antioch, Crick, Northamptonshire

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This view of the church is not enhanced by the curious small building

in the centre of this picture.

 

 

The mason managed to mis-spell the name George.

 



 

 

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One killed in an accident, one killed on purpose.

 

Ashby Road Cemetery, Hinckley, Warwickshire

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This was an unexpectedly large cemetery with a good number of graves worth recording. Again we had our younger daughter Sally with us which speeded things up a lot. Curiously Sally found far more graves to photograph than we did!

 

 

 



A 3 year old killed in an accident in a recreation ground.in 1896.

 

 

 

Cuthbert Arthur Stanley was tortured to death by the Japanese

Military Police in December 1943

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Some of the text has been engraved upside down

 

St Mary, Llanfair Caereinion, Powys, Wales

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This was our first cemetery in Wales. Most of the gravestones were made of slate which is easy to read and the stones were arranged in neat rows. Quite a few of the stones had the occupation of the deceased included in the text which is something that is far less common in England.

 

 

 



The age, 77, has been engraved using two upside down 2's. Had the mason forgotten his stencil for the number 7? Perhaps readers have another theory to share? 

 

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Childbirth and a Bleeding Cancer

 

All Saints, Long Whatton, Leicestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

 

We like churchyards that contain slate gravestones because they remain legible for hundreds of years.

 

 

Mary Garner died "of a bleeding cancer". This must have been a particularly nasty way to die in the era before widespread pain relief medication was available.

 

 

Mrs Martha Townley died in "Child Bed". We can only recall one other example of the title "Mrs" being used on a gravestone. Sadly death during and immediately after childbirth was relatively common in the early 1800s.

 

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Boiled to death - aged 8

 

St Michael, Madeley, Shropshire

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Just as we arrived there was a thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail. Then just as suddenly it turned into a pleasantly sunny afternoon. That is English weather for you!

 

Eight year old Charles Arthur Turner was fatally scalded when he fell into the discharge pit for the Meadow Pit Mine winding engine boiler.

 

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Air raids and a lost grave

 

Christ Church, Welshpool, Powys, Wales

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This church is being converted into a private house.

 

 

Jessie Broxton and her grandchildren Margaret and John Meredith were killed during an air-raid on Shrewsbury in 1940.

 

 

This is the first time we have seen this wording on a war grave. It seems as if the exact location of the remains are not known but it is very hard to understand how this could happen.

 

 

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Henry and Elizabeth Millichamp lost seven children!

 

St Michael, Brimfield, Herefordshire

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A very noisy churchyard due to it being within 200 yards of the A49 .The church tower is of an unusual design.

 

 

Henry and Elizabeth Millichamp lost seven children in the 1860s and !870s. - Elizabeth (3 weeks), John (2 days), Lizzie (3 weeks), Willie (3 weeks), Joseph (7 months), Ellen (13 months) and Annie (18 months).

 

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Two disrespectful graveyards

 

St Michael and All Angels, Smethcott, Shropshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

It is a shame that we visited the church just after the magnificent display

of daffodils had finished.

 

 

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like, dozens of old gravestones just dumped in a pile under some trees! There really isn't any excuse for this level of disrespect.

 

Visited April 2011



 

Holy Trinity, Weston Lullingfields, Shropshire

 

 

The church was attached to the house next door by what rather looked like a cloister.

 

 

This war grave could hardly be seen because of the long grass around it. Claire and I have never approved of the way that some churchyards are declared to be "nature reserves" to justify an almost total lack of routine care.

 

********** 

 

A new book for grave hunters everywhere!

 

 

The authors have viewed millions of gravestones, and are offering readers a selection of the rare and unusual gravestones that they have seen, with full-colour illustrations. Each category of type of gravestone, age of person, cause of death, rare names, and errors found on gravestones are given a points score to indicate rarity.

 

This book was published in March 2015 and is now available from Amazon in the USA

 

 

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Two memorials - only 1 word on each

 

Southam Road Cemetery, Banbury, Oxfordshire

(Click on the image for a larger version)

 

 

We looked long and hard for a grave with a date of birth in the 1700s to illustrate an article but although it was possible to work out that many of the graves were of people born in the 18th century none said so in so many words.

 

It is both sad and strange that nobody seems to have known his full name or when he was born or died.

Visited April 2009

 

-------------------------------

 

Oswestry Cemetery, Oswestry, Shropshire

 



It took us a total of 6 man-hours to survey this cemetery on a lovely sunny day. We found 7 ladies who died aged 100 or older but not a single man who had reached this landmark. Many of the military graves had been maintained to a very high standard but just a few in one corner of the site seem to have been overlooked..

 

 

"BILL" is the shortest inscription we have seen - pushing "GEORGE" into second place.

 

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Hannah and Frederick Watts lost 3 children in 2 days!

 

St Just, in Roseland, Cornwall

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St Just in Roseland Church is a very special 13th century Church, with a 6th Century Celtic heritage, in a unique waterside semi-tropical garden setting.

 

 

Three children, Elizabeth, Ethel and Reginald Watts died within two days.

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The husband lived to 105 and his wife to 102.

 

Hereford Cemetery and Crematorium, Hereford, Herefordshire

(Click on a photo for a larger version)

 

 

It took the two of us 4 hours to check every grave. This is a well-run site and the grounds with neatly mown grass and attractively presented flower beds were a credit to all concerned. We strongly approve of their policy of providing detailed maps of the site and plenty of benches for visitors to sit on.

 

 

 

This was the first time we have come across a married couple where both partners lived to be over 100.

 

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A victim of terrorism - Aden 1967

 

Oswestry Cemetery, Oswestry, Shropshire

(Click on the photo for a larger version)

 

 

It took us a total of 6 man-hours to survey this cemetery on a lovely sunny day. We found 7 ladies who died aged 100 or older but not a single man who had reached this landmark. Many of the military graves had been maintained to a very high standard but just a few in one corner of the site seem to have been overlooked..

 

 

Ruth Wilkes was killed in Aden on the evening of 28th February 1967, by a terrorist bomb planted at a party being held in one of the flats in the Maalla Straight. She was laid to rest in Silent Valley Cemetery. Mrs Wilkes was the wife of Major Keith Wilkes, OC Intelligence Corps, Aden.

 

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Killed by lightning after preaching!

 

Milverton Cemetery, Warwick, Warwickshire

(Click on the photo for a larger version)

 

The great joy of cemetery hunting is that you never know what you are going to discover!

 

"Killed by lightning after preaching at Marton" - probably our best "find" ever.

 

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A Teddy Bear and Two Gangsters

 

Chingford Mount Cemetery, Greater London

(Click on the photo for a larger version)

 

We were on a family trip to London so we decided to spend a sunny afternoon walking around this cemetery. In was lovely to find this oasis of calm in one of the largest cities in the world.

 

 

This three dimensional model of a "teddy bear" is a lovely design to use for a young child.

 

 

 

Reginald and his twin brother Ronald Kray were leading figures in organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s. The Krays were involved in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, violent assaults including torture and the murders of Jack "The Hat" McVitie and George Cornell. Ronald remained in Broadmoor Hospital until his death on 17 March 1995, but Reginald was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2000, eight weeks before his death in October from cancer.

 

 

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