Saturday 19 February 2011

Who Will Remember Them?

As I go round cemeteries in England, it is starting to dawn on me just how many headstones have decayed to the point where the deceased is about to become unknown. I know willing bands of volunteers have been visiting cemeteries for years to record the monumental inscriptions before it is too late. But, they can't get everywhere! Here are a few examples of what I mean.

Hurst Green Cemetery 2011



Locksbrook Cemetery Bath 2010



Chorley Cemetery 2011



2 comments:

Owen said...

Messages, epitaphs, sculptures, photos, all disappearing under the slow scouring of rain, snow, ice, frost, sun... it is worthy work I think to try to preserve some of them in images before they are gone forever. I really like the last one, where the letters were attached to the stone, but are falling off, leaving their outline and the traces of the attachments. Very poignant...

Margaret Pangert said...

That's a shame, Laurie. I think New Orleans has a good idea with rotating bodies every so many years.
The cemetery for my parents (my mother is still living) has a plan in which the surviving family members have a cemetery cleanup every May, and detailed rcords are kept in a little airtight building... I suppose they should be transferred to a computer...
me
http://margaretpanpipes.blogspot.com

Welcome to the Graveyard Detective

An illustrated look at the World of Graveyards and Cemeteries. There are many Stories behind the Stones that Stand in them. Who knows what we might find?

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