STORIES NOW SILENCED ..........

Little did I know that the GIF of a sparkler that I put in my last post  to wish everyone a Happy New Year would have caused so much pain and be so annoying ..... I rather liked it and found it appropriate for the occasion but, obviously not ! I apologise profusely and have removed the first one that appears on peoples sidebars so as not to offend anymore ! 

Onto other things ..... 

Cro from Magnons Meanderings did a post on his local  cemetery which inspired me to show ours  .....

This is the cemetery, located about three hundred yards from our house. It covers nearly twenty acres. The original four acre cemetery, still known as ' the old cemetery ', opened in 1885 and was an extension to St Mary's Churchyard. The Borough, for many years,  has been home to a large Italian community, attracted here mostly between 1945 and the 1960's to work in the nurseries and the Borough's extensive area of greenhouses. The local Italian residents, not wanting to be either buried in the earth or cremated, opted for interment and over 250 walled graves have been constructed . However, the first choice of interment was a private mausoleum, often described as " a little chapel with shelves to put the coffins on " to replicate what is done in Italy or Sicily. The council constructed a community mausoleum, columbarium walls, a central garden, an ashes scattering area and a commemorative plaque wall. 

There is a chapel and lodge, built in 1855, both of which are decorative, early Gothic style structures and a Hearse House that is believed to be one of the few remaining hearse houses in the country. 

Funerals have to pass our house so, we often see hearses driven by horses adorned with black plumage, the very sad sight of a white hearse carrying a tiny coffin and the most flamboyant of all ... the Travellers funerals. Hundreds and hundreds of mourners turn out and stop traffic. There was one a few months ago of a Traveller who was a tree surgeon, crushed to death by machinery in a work accident. Over 200 mourners, carrying boxes of Stella Artois, some on motor bikes revving their engines and an open topped lorry carrying three or four huge tree trunks { as an homage to his work }, made their way from St Marys church, past our house, on to the graveyard ... it was a sight to behold ! 

We often walk through the cemetery and we always see something that we haven't noticed before.....

Last time, I noticed these two teddy bears, propped up against an old gravestone .....

..... and this wicker heart with a robin that looked as if it had been there for a while..... 

..... and here is a gravestone for Ernest Archer, who died in 1882, aged 3 years 10 months. 

There is much sadness to be seen, obviously, but, there is something beautiful about our graveyard. I love the bottle shaped yew trees that give it an Alice in Wonderland quality and the pretty, Grade 11 listed decorative Gothic Chapel and Lodge and the way the Italians adorn their graves. There are memories and quiet stories everywhere and we always see something new every time we walk there. 

Very sobering.

" My walk through the cemetery was an acquaintance with local history "

Christopher S Wren

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