Diagonal Daze in St Mary’s Churchyard, Twyford
Posted by Eleanor Whitby I was wandering around a churchyard on that one sunny summer’s day, as you do, and came upon a few really lovely headstones. The first was surrounded by a burst of colour in a green area of flat memorials in the council owned section – I loved the smooth, pebble like […]
Dying for a pee
When the inhabitants of Milla Milla, Australia,were told by the council that they couldn’t have toilets in their cemetery because they’d cost too much, they took matters into their own hands. Citizen Pat Reynolds built the toilet you see pictured above in his garage in his spare time. He’s done a proper job, mind, inbuilt […]
Buried in a ‘Wasp Rockery’
Posted by Vale Gore Vidal died at the end of July aged 86. Although he would have wanted to be remembered as a writer and thinker, he was perhaps better known as a raconteur and wit with a vicious line in put downs. He had a long feud with writer Norman Mailer and once goaded […]
London’s Pyramid of Death
Posted by Belinda Forbes In the second of BBC Radio 4’s series Unbuilt Britain, Jonathan Glancey describes one of the most audacious buildings ever planned for London – it would have been the largest pyramid ever built. Church yards were so crowded at the beginning of the 19th century that corpses were literally bursting out […]
Politics and funerals
A topical post from our religious correspondent, Richard Rawlinson Timed to counter the low turnout of voters at the mayoral and local council elections last week, did you catch the BBC advertisement challenging political apathy by chronicling how so many everyday activities–from the fat count in our sausages to the safety of cyclists on the […]
Lairs – time for re-evaluation?
Posted by Vale Have you ever thought about the rateable value of cemeteries and burial grounds? The Scottish Assessors Association have. They offer information about how sites and locations should be valued and have some fascinating guidance for cemeteries, churchyards, graveyards and necropolises. A guidance note advises that: The recommended rate is £110 per […]
Grave dressing at Easter
Posted by Vale On my way to the crematorium today I passed a family tidying a grave, clearing it after the winter and bringing fresh flowers for Easter. It reminded me of this description from the diary of Francis Kilvert. At the time of writing he was a curate at Clyro on the Welsh border […]
Publishing event of the year!
The Natural Death Handbook, Fifth Edition A thoroughly updated and revised edition of the Natural Death Centre‘s celebrated handbook. Now presented alongside a new collection of essays on death, dying and funeral practices by doctors, historians, authors, poets, theologians and artists including Richard Barnett, David Jay Brown, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Charles Cowling, Bill Drummond, Stephen Grasso, […]
The sisterhood of the skulls
Posted by Vale If Kutna Hora and Capela dos Ossos show anything it is that we cannot let bones lie. Buried and disinterred, stacked and stored these vast collections become places where the living can meet and marvel at the dead. In Naples, at the charnel house in the middle of its Fontanelle Cemetary, this […]
Frantisek Rint – baroque and berserk?
Posted by Vale Back in 1278 an Abbot of Sedlec came back to Kutna Hora with some earth from Golgotha in his travel bags. He scattered it in the cemetery and created the most famous and popular necropolis in Bohemia and Central Europe. Grave space was at a premium and, sometime after 1400, a chapel […]
