One Man's Dream

Today, I visited an extraordinary cemetery on the north side of Bath. I passed it dozens of times in the past without realising it was there. A chance search on Bing [the newest search engine] for Somerset Victorian Cemeteries provided details of the Lansdown Cemetery.

According to the Beckford Tower Trust who have published a handy illustrated TombTrail, the wealthy collector, author and builder of Towers, William Beckford (1760-1844) created a picturesque landscape garden behind his house that climbed Lansdown, culminating at Beckford's Tower. After his death, his daughter gave the tower and gardens to the parish of Walcot for use as a cemetery. Since 1848, more than 8,000 burials took place. In 1992, it was closed and only burials in existing family plots are allowed today.

The entrance gateway (pictured below) has two doors either side of the main gateway. One has the powerful inscription 'The Gateway of Death' above it. The other carries the word 'Resurgent'.

Animals interred in Hallowed Ground

Click here to follow a story about a poodle buried with its master in a Somerset churchyard on my other blog: Creating pictures in my Mind.

Escape to the Silent Cities: Zinc Markers

Escape to the Silent Cities: Zinc Markers Here's a brand new website with a cemetery connection. It has a very interesting post on zinc markers with photographs of several examples. Click on the link for a quick visit!

A Matching Pair

When I visited Locksbrook Cemetery in Bath last Summer, I was surprised to find two matching gravestones almost side by side. The first dates from 1906 while the second is from 1908. Perhaps it was the same stonemason working to some form of template?

And then I took some close ups of these works of art:

It was only today, when preparing these for posting, that I realised there were subtle differences.

On the first stone, I cannot tell whether it is male and female hands, but it most certainly is on the second. Then there are the fingers curled round at the bottom of the clasped hands - the first has four while the second only has three. And the flower at the top has subtle differences - especially noticeable with the leaves coming off the stem below the flower . . .

There are probably more differences. How many can you see?

Keeping hold of a young child's Hand

I've posted before of the graveyard symbolism of putting a image of clasped hands on a gravestone. Here is an example I have not seen before. It depicts an adult hand holding that of a child. Richard Henry, beloved son of Richard Graveson and Mary Evans who died, aged 7 years and 3 months who died on 22 May, 1890.

A sad momento of Mothers Day

Today is Mothering Sunday. I noticed a fresh grave with flowers and a blue baloon. Written upon it in felt tip is the message: "Happy Mothers Day. Donald, Michael and the Gang" A very poignant sight.

The Blackburn Giant

Frederick John Kempster was known as the British Giant and he is buried in Blackburn Cemetery in Lancashire. He caught influenza and developed pneumonia and died in 1918. At the time of his death he was said to be 7ft 11" tall. Later, the undertakers daughter claimed he was actually 8ft 4" and that her father had made a coffin nine feet long. The size of the grave is astonishing when you stand in front of it, as I did today. If you are in the area, you really ought to visit it so you can see for yourselves just how big it is. Amazing! I can remember my parents once telling me about a giant in the 1930s they had seen in the street. He would shake hands with people standing at their upstairs window, but it wasn't Kempster.