Rest in peace "Baby Unknown".

 Stafford Cemetery and Crematorium

(Click on an image for a larger version)

General view

We are not certain about the status of these two memorials - perhaps they are connected with a local Maternity Hospital?

Rest in peace "Baby Unknown".

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

William Bailey died from Nephritis.

 St John the Baptist, Cranford St John, Northamptonshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

This parish church has a 12th century origin. The chancel, north chapel and tower are all 14th century. The church was restored and reseated in 1887.

William Bailey died from Nephritis.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Bernard Walcot had two wives but "... of his 14 children there were but nine living at the time of his death."

 St Andrew, Cranford St Andrew, Northamptonshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

St Andrew's dates from the later part of the 12th century, the nave arcade surviving from that time. The tower was added during the following century, at which time the church was largely rebuilt, and a north chapel was added. Further building took place in the 14th century when the clerestory and porch were added and new windows were inserted. The south chapel was added in the following century. In 1847 a north transept was added to form a family pew for the Robinsons of Cranford Hall.

Bernard Walcot had two wives but "... of his 14 children there were but nine living at the time of his death."

 

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Can you spot the spelling mistake?

 All Saints, Bishopswood, Herefordshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The "Church in the Woods" is on a steep hillside overlooking the Wye valley. Bishopswood All Saints was consecrated in 1845; funded by John Partridge Esq who lived nearby at the Mansion House and who was the owner of the Bishopswood Estate.

Can you spot the spelling mistake?

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Constance "deceased in Childbed" together with her infant son.

 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.

Constance "deceased in Childbed" together with her infant son.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Although Sylvia died aged 4 months in 1886 it seems that somebody still mourns her passing.

 St Andrew, Wimpole, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

St Andrew is a dramatic example of what happens when a noble family entirely dominates a village. There was a medieval church here, surrounded by a little medieval village, but little of it now exists: Only a small side chapel remains,and even that has been restored almost out of all recognition. The rest of the church is a rebuilding of 1749.

Although Sylvia died aged 4 months in 1886 it seems that
somebody still mourns her passing.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

An unusual coffin lid that depicts a human head with the body of a plant.

 St John the Baptist, Aston Ingham, Herefordshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

Originally 12th century, the church of St. John the Baptist at Aston Ingham was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century. In 1890, the church was in the hands of the builders to undergo a thorough restoration up to the sum of £1000. People were asked to gift a new east window, reredos, altar rail, and above all the removal of the tower and rebuilding of same. The builder was Mr. Smith of Weston under Penyard.

An unusual coffin lid that depicts a human head with the body of a plant.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Richard Elliston was killed by "the kick of a horse" "in the 13th year of his age".

 Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Ely, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

Ely Cathedral, has its origins in 672AD when St Etheldreda built an Abbey Church. The present building dates back to 1083, and cathedral status was granted it in 1109. Until the reformation it was the Church of St Etheldreda and St Peter, at which point it was refounded as the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, continuing as the principal church of the Diocese of Ely.

Richard Elliston was killed by "the kick of a horse" "in the 13th year of his age".

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

James was Postmaster at Boxworth for 46 years.

 St Peter, Boxworth, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

This is a strange church. It is very small, and from the outside looks completely Victorian. In fact, St Peter is an old building. The main body of the nave is 12th century, and the south aisle is 14th century. The age is much more evident on the inside. The 14th century arcades are interesting and unusual - four octagonal shafts pressed together to form lozenge-shaped piers. The rest, though, feels very 12th century, despite the Victorian windows and tower arch.

James was Postmaster at Boxworth for 46 years.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Mary Lindsey was "accidently killed" on the Great Eastern Railway in 1906.

 Histon and Impington Cemetery, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

General view.

Mary Lindsey was "accidently killed" on the Great Eastern Railway in 1906.

Note the spelling mistake!

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

A mother and daughter killed in a car accident.

 St Andrew, Impington, Cambridge

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The original building was constructed about 1130 and appears to have been dedicated originally to St Etheldreda. Its first use was not as a church for the parish but to transcribe books for the prior of Ely. The first vicar was not appointed until the 13th century and since then it has been significantly rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries.

A mother and daughter killed in a car accident.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

This married couple were reunited on their wedding anniversary.

 St Andrew, Girton, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

Girton Church probably dates from Saxon times. The earliest artifact in the present church is a Saxon altar-stone (discovered in the churchyard in 1951). The parish church has been dedicated to Saint Andrew since at least 1240. Part of the west tower contains stones that were probably part of an earlier 11th century church on the site, and there are parts of 13th century construction still in evidence, but the present building was largely rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries.

This married couple were reunited on their wedding anniversary.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Ernest was a widower for 77 years. He died aged 101.

 St Mary Magdalene, Madingley, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The church is an attractive medieval building founded over nine hundred years ago. The church lies just within the gates of Madingley Hall, a fine Tudor house with a modern wing behind it, which is part of the University of Cambridge.

Ernest was a widower for 77 years. He died aged 101.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

This is the first time I have seen a pair of boxing gloves included in a memorial.

 Milton Cemetery, Milton, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

General view

This is the first time I have seen a pair of boxing gloves included in a memorial.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

An unusual but effective design for a war memorial.

 St John the Evangelist, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The church of St. John the Evangelist is an edifice of the 13th century, in the Early English style with Perpendicular insertions, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 5 bells: the windows of the clerestory and aisles are Perpendicular: the chancel is enriched with an alabaster and mosaic reredos.

An unusual but effective design for a war memorial.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

2015 - Remembering the children - 7 of the best

St Mary, Chirk, Wrexham

1) James was drowned when he was 2 years old. The statue of him is charming.
http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/james-was-drowned-when-he-was-2-years.html

2) Both these babies died aged 4 hours -a year apart.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/both-these-babies-died-aged-4-hours.html

3) Thomas Tompkins was a child who was accidentally drowned in 1629.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/thomas-tompkins-was-child-who-was.html

4) Richard was accidentally drowned aged 3 years and 10 months.
http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/richard-was-accidentally-drowned-aged-3.html

5) Thomas and Mary Jones had 6 children. Four didn't live to see their first birthday.

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/thomas-and-mary-jones-had-6-children.html
 
6) A lovely statue of a lamb on the grave of Terry Knight who died aged 3 years.
http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/a-lovely-statue-of-lamb-on-grave-of.html

7) Remembering the children

http://grave-mistakes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/remembering-children.html

Unusual gravestones

 

  

 

About the authors - Martin and Claire Nicholson own one of the largest archives of grave related photographs in the world. A selection of their work appears in the blog "Grave Mistakes" that has had over 400,000 hits since it was launched in 2013. Other examples appear in the Facebook group "Social History" where Martin acts as the group administrator.

 



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 2015 and is now available from Amazon

Specimen pages from Amazon previewer

 

 Martin Nicholson - Ticklerton Barn, Ticklerton, Church Stretton, Shropshire

 

Email contact