Sleeping Angel

Today, I found an external hard drive that I had been looking for for ages. It was packed with lots of photographs of exciting places I had visited during days out with the local art society. Hemington is a lovely country hamlet in Somerset and it has picturesque church and churchyard. Having just posted about a fading angel, I was pleased to find an example of a sleeping angel. I don't ever remember seeing one before.

Fading Angel

There are many, many Angels marking graves in Locksbrook Cemetery in Bath. This one surprised me as I don't think I have come across another where the face is fading away. The most recent inscription on the grave is that of Florence Mary Taylor who died on 13 June 1942 aged 68. It is much earlier than that.

Police Funeral

Police Sergeants act as Pall Bearers at the funeral of an unknown police officer. Was he of high rank or merely a constable? Was he murdered by a criminal? We will probably never know, unless someone recognises the Graveyard?

Early In Memoriam Card

I found this In Memoriam Card in with some vintage postcards yesterday. It marks the passing of Mary Ann Watson, aged seven years, in 1850.

Winnie Mitchell's Grave

In 1913, Dorset rabbit trapper Bill Burton was, according to contemporary accounts, described as a lady killer [womaniser] - an apt description to which he would live up to.

He seduced Winnie Mitchell and, after she revealed she was pregnant, said he would elope with her. Burton changed his mind and Winnie threatened to go public. Two day's later, he lured her to Sovel Plantation and shot her in the head with a shotgun, burying her body in a shallow grave.

Police discovered fragments of Winnie's shattered teeth in the wood and discovered her grave nearby. Arrested and confessed, he faced a jury at Dorset Assizes who took only 19 minutes to find him guilty. On midsummer's day 1913, he was hanged by Britain's best known executioner, Thomas Pierrepoint. A post-mortem revealed that Winnie was not pregnant when she died.

Photographers, at the time, were quick to make a profit from accidents or sensational murders and one photographed the empty shallow grave where she was discovered. His name or the price he charged are unknown. As he scratched the caption on the reverse of the glass plate negative, the difficulty of writing the wrong way round is revealed by his use of back-to-front Ns in her Christian name.

Julia's Lamb

Julia's Lamb
Originally uploaded by Mr. Ducke

A beautiful photo by Matt aka Mr Ducke. If you like cats, visit his photostream on flickr.

Mary's Pain

Mary's Pain
Originally uploaded by jagr1957

I was browsing on flickr this evening and saw this sorrowful image by Julie Rentsch. It was taken in Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio.