Football Fatality

I saw this grave with a stone football at the foot of it in my local churchyard in Radstock. It marks the grave of Ernest Joseph Hyman who died on 7 January 1927 from injuries received in a football match between the Somerset towns of Taunton and Yeovil on Boxing Day 1926. His headstone records that: "He always played the Game".

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Book of Commemoration

In Lansdown Cemetery, a giant book made from black granite provides an impressive and unusual memorial for Henry Adkins (1853-1930) and his wife Marie Louise (Poulin). She was born in Bordeaux and he in Birmingham.

Another Shattered Dream

A cracked grave vase at Lansdown Cemetery bearing the inscription 'In Loving Memory'. I find myself moved by its damaged condition.

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?