Grave Mistakes: September 2017

A British nurse shot by a German firing squad.

The Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire (Click on an image for a larger version)

Peterborough Cathedral is known for its imposing Early English Gothic West Front (façade) which, with its three enormous arches, is without architectural precedent and with no direct successor. The appearance is slightly asymmetrical, as one of the two towers that rise from behind the façade was never completed (the tower on the right as one faces the building), but this is only visible from a distance.

Edith Louisa Cavell was a British nurse. She is celebrated for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. She was accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad.

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My favourite maritime graves

Neither Ship, Passengers, nor Crew have since been heard of."

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/neither-ship-passengers-nor-crew-have.html

Alan Davidson died on the Training Ship Arethusa in 1927, aged just 14.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/alan-davidson-died-on-training-ship.html

The S.S. Quetta sunk off the coast of Australia in February 1890. Of the 292 people on board 134 died.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-ss-quetta-sunk-off-coast-of.html

George Honey was "lost at sea in a snowstorm" in 1891.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/george-honey-was-lost-at-sea-in.html

Over 4000 people died when the Lancastria was sunk in 1940

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/over-4000-people-died-when-lancastria.html

Thomas Osborn was drowned when the "Jane Duchess of Gordon" sank near Mauritius.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thomas-osborn-was-drowned-when-jane.html

An elaborate pictorial stone for 369 soldiers drowned in 1814.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/an-elaborate-pictorial-stone-for-369.html

She died in childbirth at sea after the death of her husband

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/she-died-in-childbirth-at-sea-after.html

A design disaster - I will never understand why people use Roman numerals on memorials.

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Englesea, Cheshire (Click on an image for a larger version)

Built in 1828, the chapel was one of the earliest chapels of the Primitive Methodist movement. The Sunday school was added in 1914. Since 1986 it has been a museum of Primitive Methodism.

I will never understand why some people choose

to use Roman numerals on memorials.

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"YYUR - YYUB - ICUR - YY4ME".

Chester (Blacon) Cemetery and
Crematorium, Chester, Cheshire (Click on an image for a larger version)

A general view

"YYUR - YYUB - ICUR - YY4ME".

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The large memorial to John Pugh Pryse MP (died 1774), with numerous cherubs, one holding a portrait.

St Padarn, Llanbadarn, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion

(Click on an image for a larger version)

A general view of the sloping churchyard.

The large memorial to John Pugh Pryse MP (died 1774), with numerous cherubs, one holding portrait relief, attributed to Van der Hagen of Shrewsbury.

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Like a worn out Type - He is returned to the Founder - In hopes of being recast in a better and more - perfect Mould.

St Mary, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

(Click on an image for a larger version)

St Mary's Church is the civic church of Bury St Edmunds and is one of the largest parish churches in England. It claims to have the second longest aisle, and the largest West Window of any parish church in the country. It was part of the abbey complex and originally was one of three large churches in the town (the others being St James, now St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and St Margaret's, now gone).

Like a worn out Type - He is returned to the Founder - In hopes of being recast in a better and more - perfect Mould.

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One for the Latin scholars amongst the readership - the early death of two children is easy to work out.

Bury St Edmunds Cathedral, Suffolk

(Click on an image for a larger version)

St Edmundsbury Cathedral (formally entitled the Cathedral Church of St James) is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is the seat of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and is in Bury St Edmunds. Originating in the 11th century, it was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries as a parish church and became a cathedral in 1914; it has been considerably enlarged in recent decades.

One for the Latin scholars amongst the readership - the early death of two children is easy to work out.

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William Bye was drowned on a voyage from New Zealand to London in 1882 and his brother Jospeh was drowned in the Pentland Firth in 1878.

Ipswich Cemetery, Suffolk

(Click on an image for a larger version)

A general view

William Bye was drowned on a voyage from New Zealand to London in 1882 and his brother Jospeh was drowned in the Pentland Firth in 1878.

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Sir George Biddell Airy was an English mathematician and astronomer, and Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881.

St Mary, Playford, Suffolk

(Click on an image for a larger version)

St Mary sits high on a hill above the road. It is an ancient site, quite untypical for Suffolk. The church has one of Suffolk's most imposing lychgates, at the base of the steep steps that rise to the churchyard. It is the size of a garage, and was erected in the 1930s in memory of a mother who had died in the late 19th century. Inside, the church is pretty much all Victorian. There was a big restoration in 1873, the work of Phipson, but the character of the furnishings is mostly that of another restoration some twenty years later. Earlier memorials are still on the walls of the rebuilt chancel.

Sir George Biddell Airy KCB PRS (27 July 1801 – 2 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, and Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881.

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Isaac Blyth "died suddenly in this church".

St Mary, Woodbridge, Suffolk (Click on an image for a larger version)

Externally, this is one of the great English churches. Its setting is superb, wholly urban, and yet conscious of its presence in an ancient space. The tower is one of Suffolk's biggest, bold and dramatic in the landscape, particularly when seen from close up because it rises up from below the level of the graveyard, sheer up for more than a hundred feet.

Isaac Blyth "died suddenly in this church".

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Where is the best place to see pictures of other unusual graves?

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Ellen Rope's deliciously sentimental side window in the porch, depicting Sunday School children.

St Peter, Blaxhall, Suffolk (Click on an image for a larger version)

Looking up at the tower, you can see that something happened here. Either a collapse, or the neglect common to medieval churches before the Victorians found them and rescued them. Perhaps, the red brick was a patch-up job of the early 18th century, and evidence inside seems to suggest this; the battlements were probably renewed later.

Ellen Rope's deliciously sentimental side window in the porch, depicting Sunday school children.

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This is the highest ranking female officer we have seen remembered on a war grave.

Framlingham Cemetery, Framlingham, Suffolk (Click on an image for a larger version)

One part of the cemetery was particularly overgrown and clearly seldom visited by the living.

This is the highest ranking female officer
we have seen remembered on a war grave.

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Where is the best place to see pictures of other unusual graves?

FACEBOOK SOCIAL HISTORY GROUP
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A final message to the deceased using the letters of his name to start each line.

Nantwich Cemetery, Nantwich, Cheshire (Click on an image for a larger version)

A general view

A final message to the deceased using the letters

of his name to start each line.

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Where is the best place to see pictures of other unusual graves?

FACEBOOK SOCIAL HISTORY GROUP
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Hornby died of starvation in northern Canada .

St Mary, Acton, Cheshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The presence of a church with two priests on the site is recorded in the Domesday Book. The tower was built about 1180, which makes it the oldest tower in Cheshire. When it was built it was over 100 feet (30 m) high but its top collapsed in a storm in March 1757 damaging the roof of the church and the clerestory. It was rebuilt but only to a height of 80 feet (24 m). The north aisle was built in the last quarter of the 14th century in Decorated style and the south aisle and chancel were built early in the 15th century. The internal fittings of the church were damaged in the Civil War. There were restorations in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1897–98 the Lancaster architects Austin and Paley carried out a further restoration.

John Hornby (1880–1927) was an English explorer, best known for his expeditions in the Arctic region, notably in the "barren lands" in the Northwest Territories of Canada. In 1926, Hornby tried to spend a year in a spot by the Thelon River with his 18-year-old cousin Edgar Christian and another young man Harold Adlard. Unfortunately, the trio missed the caribou migration southward and therefore lacked sufficient food to survive the winter. Hornby died of starvation along with his companions in 1927. The graves of the three men can be found by the Thelon River .

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Where is the best place to see pictures of other unusual graves?

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A forced landing was made at Brindley Heath, but the aircraft broke up and the pilot killed.

Malpas Cemetery, Malpas, Cheshire (Click on an image for a larger version)

A general view

RK945 of 51MU was on a delivery flight from Lichfield to Shawbury when an engine cut out. An attempt at a forced landing was made at Brindley Heath, but the aircraft broke up and the pilot of No.4 Ferry Pool was killed.

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A mysterious war grave that needs researching!

Minffordd Cemetery, Mynwent, Gwynedd, Wales

(Click on an image for a larger version)

A general view

This war grave is a something of a mystery. The "Wellington Star" was a Refrigerated Cargo Liner sunk on her maiden voyage in 1940 and second vessel of that name wasn't launched until 1952. J L Evan died on Christmas Day in 1944 so perhaps he was a survivor of the 1940 disaster?

His brother was killed in 1942 on the "Tacoma Star" when it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-109, 38 miles east of Hampton Roads, USA. She was on a voyage from Buenos Aires to Hampton Roads and the UK with a cargo of 5107 tons of general cargo. 88 crew and 9 gunners were lost.

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Where is the best place to see pictures of other unusual graves?

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FACEBOOK CEMETERY EXPLORATION GROUP
https://www.facebook.com/groups/345000398956884/

A standing monument of Bowater Vernon, died 1835, by Roubiliac.

St Mary the Virgin, Hanbury, Worcestershire
(Click on an image for a larger version)

Once the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort and later the home of monks, the present building dates from 1210. It has evolved under the patronage of two important local families, the Bearcrofts of Mere Hall and the Vernons of Hanbury Hall.

A standing monument of Bowater Vernon,
died 1835, by Roubiliac.
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The tomb of Judge Leighton (d 1607) shows his 3 sons and 5 daughters - one of whom died in infancy.

St James, Cardington, Shropshire
(Click on an image for a larger version)

The presence of a church on the site is recorded in the Domesday Book. The village, including its church, was given in 1167 to the Knights Templar, and remained in their possession until 1308. They were responsible for starting the building of the present church in the later part of the 12th century. During the following century the chancel was rebuilt and extended, and the tower was added. Further additions and alterations were made during the following three centuries, followed by the porch in 1639. Restoration was carried out between 1852–68, which included removal of the gallery.

The tomb of Judge Leighton (d 1607) shows his 3 sons and 5 daughters - one of whom died in infancy.

Two siblings who both died tragically - but in separate accidents.

Gloucester Crematorium and Cemetery,
Gloucester, Gloucestershire (Click on an image for a larger version)

General view

Two siblings who both died tragically - but in separate accidents.
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Edward Jenner was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine.

Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester, Gloucestershire (Click on an image for a larger version)

Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter - later dissolved by King Henry VIII.

Edward Jenner, FRS (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine.

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Remembering the Katyn Massacre

The Country Park, Cannock Chase, Staffordshire (Click on an image for a larger version)

The Katyn Massacre was a series of mass executions of Polish nationals carried out by the NKVD ("People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs", a Soviet secret police organisation) in April and May 1940. Though the killings took place at several different locations, the massacre is named after the Katyn Forest, where some of the mass graves were first discovered.

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John Hale, a blacksmith, was crushed to death by a bell in 1692.

St Mary, Hartpury, Gloucestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The present church, now dedicated to St. Mary, was built before 1100 and like all early Norman churches, would have been dark with massively thick walls and small round arched high-level window openings. During the early part of the 14th century the original windows in the nave were enlarged and the present large presbytery (chancel) and sanctuary were added to accommodate the more elaborate ceremonial of the time. The tower was built detached, but immediately adjoining the church, during the early part of the 14th century.

John Hale, a blacksmith, was crushed to death by a bell in 1692.

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