St Augustine's Church, Northbourne, Kent

St Augustine's Church, Northbourne, Kent

Visited April 2018

The village of Northbourne, near Deal in Kent, is a small picturesque village with a lovely church and churchyard. There was a service going on in the church when I visited, so I contented myself with wandering around the churchyard. The cruciform church itself dates from the 12th century, and is on the site of an older Saxon church, traces of which can still be seen, I'm told, in the current building. 

The churchyard can be entered via paths from the village, or through a lychgate beside the village hall. It's been cleared in the past, so there are not a huge amount of old stones in situ; there are some along boundary walls, as is typical in older churchyards which have been cleared to make more room, and a few 17th & 18th century stones remain near the church, and the remains of what appears to be a mausoleum in one corner. 

There are also some lovely country walks in the area, so if you're passing do stop and take a look!

Brockwell and Ladywell, 2018

Brockwell and Ladywell Cemetery, London

Visited October 2018

A bit of a damper and more overcast day than my last autumnal visit to this cemetery (pictures here), but still a tranquil place to walk around in the early autumn. There wasn't another person around for most of the time I was there, although go a month earlier and the blackberry pickers are out in force!

Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery 2017

Ladywell and Brockley Cemetery, London

Visited October 2017

This cemetery used to be two cemeteries, as already discussed in this post. 

It might not be the largest or most magnificent of Victorian cemeteries, but on a sunny autumn day, with very few people around (except a few dog-walkers), this was a glorious place to walk around. All the reds and oranges of the leaves and berries seemed to be out in force: perhaps not surprisingly, the cemetery is a Borough Importance Grade 1 site for nature conservation.

Canongate Kirkyard, Edinburgh

Canongate Kirkyard, Edinburgh

Visited September 2016

The kirkyard of the Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh contains burials from the 18th century onwards, in a variety of states of repair. The church itself is still in use, and there are modern memorials in the kirkyard as well as ancient. 

It’s a neatly laid out kirkyard, on the Holyrood rather than Castle part of the Royal Mile, and there weren’t too many tourists when I visited. There are large monuments around the walls and towards the back, and smaller stones in the middle. A few early stones bear memento mori such as skulls, but they’re few and far between.

Two memorials of note are the memorial to the Coachdrivers of the Canongate, whose stone shows a coach and horses, and the stone to poet Robert Fergusson, who was the inspiration for Robert Burns.

St Mary the Virgin church, Fordwich, Kent

Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Fordwich, Kent

Visited September 2017

The church of St Mary the Virgin is in the small town of Fordwich, near Canterbury. Fordwich itself is a lovely, old town with lots of timber framed buildings, and a timber framed town hall. It’s the smallest town in Englan with its own town council, and used to be an important Medieval port. 

The church itself is Norman in parts with a lot of later additions. It’s been out of use since the 1990s but is now looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust and is open to the public. Inside are old box pews, wall decorations and memorial brasses. There’s also a carved stone reputed to be part of the sarcophagus of St Augustine, but it was behind trestle tables on my visit and inaccessible.

In the little graveyard surrounding the church are some wonderful old gravestones with plenty of skulls and other symbols of death and remembrance. Behind the church the burials continue, with more Victorian and later stones.

If you’re in the area, Fordwich and it’s old church are definitely worth a visit (including the dog-friendly pub next door!)