“Thy touch alone unbounds the chains of slavery” – an unusual grave in the Lake District

August 29, 2014June 8, 2020 Caroline10 Comments

Having a tendency to explore old graveyards and spend time reading the gravestones may seem morbid to some, but over time I’ve come across many amazing and unusual stories that – but for the survival of a tombstone – would otherwise have faded from history. I have often visited the Lake District with my family and, as it’s only an hour’s drive away from the family home in Lancashire, Bowness-on-Windermere has always been a favourite destination of ours. It was on one of these visits that, rather than walking past the church of St Martin on our way down to the waterside, I suggested we stop and look around the churchyard.

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The Postman’s Park and the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice

August 22, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline7 Comments

London’s Square Mile is notoriously short of green space. A crowded maze of winding streets for many centuries, the City of London was originally bound by the ancient Roman walls and as the city expanded open spaces became further and further away for those living in the dirty and overcrowded centre of town. Although the Royal Parks of London have a longer history, it was the Victorians who first advocated a wider movement for open spaces in Britain’s industrialising towns and cities. Much of the reasoning behind the parks movement came from the belief that the widespread disease in urban areas came from dirty air – or ‘miasma’ – and parks were seen as a way to improve the health of those who could not afford gardens or country retreats of their own.

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19th Century · Barnes

Barnes Old Cemetery: an abandoned graveyard being reclaimed by nature

August 15, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline58 Comments

Barnes Old Cemetery is elusive. There’s not much information about it to be found online, and it hides amongst the trees close to the tennis courts on Rocks Lane – most people using the courts or passing in the car or on the bus probably have no idea that it’s there.

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20th Century · Stoke Newington

The menagerist’s memorial: the story behind Abney Park’s marble lion

August 11, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline13 Comments

Among the trees and memorials of Abney Park cemetery in Stoke Newington, a huge white marble lion sleeps peacefully. This beautiful tomb marks the final resting place of one of the great showmen from the turn of the 20th century, “The Animal King” Frank C Bostock. By the time of his death in 1912, Frank’s wildly popular menageries had toured all over Europe and America.

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20th Century · Chelsea

Commemorating the heroic exploits of a WWI pilot

August 4, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline5 Comments

Brompton Cemetery is particularly rich in grand memorials. In the centre of the cemetery, amongst the dark Victorian crosses and angels, stands a paler, more modern memorial. The face of a young man stares out from an impressive, well cared for headstone. Beneath the inscription is a dramatic image of a Zeppelin – one of the monstrous German airships of the First World War – falling to the ground in flames while a comparatively tiny aircraft flies to safety. The headstone, which occupies a prominent spot in the cemetery, commemorates the bravery of one of the British Armed Forces’ first heroes of aviation – Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reginald Alexander John Warneford. Continue reading “Commemorating the heroic exploits of a WWI pilot” →

19th Century · Nunhead

A hidden gem in south east London: Nunhead Cemetery

August 1, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline20 Comments

Nunhead is arguably the least well known of London’s “Magnificent Seven” Victorian cemeteries. Like many of South East London’s interesting old sites, it often gets overlooked due to its lack of a nearby Tube station, although it’s actually a short walk from Nunhead Rail station, which is three stops from London Victoria.

The Linden Grove entrance to Nunhead Cemetery.

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18th Century · Mortlake

Skulls, astrologers and the sands of time: a Georgian graveyard in South West London

July 26, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline8 Comments

One of the best things about living in London is the great potential for discovering wonderful places completely by accident. In this instance, I was required to go to Mortlake to pick up a parcel from the sorting office that had been too big to fit through my letterbox. Whilst walking up Mortlake High Street my eye was caught by some worn old gravestones peeping out through bushes and shrubs.

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19th Century · Camden

Exploring the ancient church and burial ground of Old St Pancras

July 20, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline23 Comments

In the shadows of the international terminal at St Pancras Station, close enough for platform announcements to be heard, is a tiny old church which has a history that supposedly stretches back almost as far as St Pancras himself. St Pancras was a Roman martyr who was beheaded in about 304AD for his Christian beliefs, and the church claims that the site has been a place of Christian worship since the 4th Century. Until the 19th Century, Old St Pancras was a rural church, close to the River Fleet, but today it is nestled in amongst the railway infrastructure of St Pancras and the houses and flats of Somers Town. When approaching the church, the first thing that struck me was how high the ground level of the churchyard is compared to its surroundings.

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19th Century · Hammersmith

Fallen comrades: Caroline of Brunswick’s life and death in Hammersmith

July 9, 2014February 4, 2019 Caroline10 Comments

Hammersmith, with its riverside factories and wharves, was badly bombed during the Second World War – but that’s a story for another blog post. Amongst the postwar concrete of the immediate area around Hammersmith tube station, a few older buildings and facades remain: a Georgian building that now houses a Chinese restaurant, rows of 19th Century villas leading down towards the river, and the splendid Gothic church of St Paul, built from a distinctive pinkish stone.

St Paul's Church, Hammersmith — St Paul’s Church, Hammersmith

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18th Century · Bow

Beautiful carved headstone in Bow

July 2, 2014September 11, 2014 Caroline2 Comments

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This beautiful carved headstone caught my eye from across the road when I was walking along Bow Road in east London. Bow Church – or to give it its proper name, St Mary and Holy Trinity, Stratford Bow – is today marooned on an island in the middle of a busy road and the churchyard is railed off. There are a number of old tomb stones in the churchyard, which has been a designated public garden since 1894. The church, founded as a chapel of ease in 1311, is the only surviving medieval building in Bow.

The headstone is quite worn and mossy so I was unable to read the inscription on it, but the carving depicts what appears to be an angel taking the hand of a dying person, who is being comforted by a woman. I’ve never seen an image like it on a gravestone before – it’s beautiful and poignant. The quality of the carving is very fine – the folds in the fabrics worn by the figures are realistic and a great deal of detail, such as the angel’s hand, still survives today. Whoever commissioned the headstone must have paid a lot of money for it.

Considering the damage inflicted on Bow Church during the Second World War, this lovely old headstone is a stunning survivor.