Old Parish Church, Kincardine O'Neil

Old Parish Church, Kincardine O'Neil (Aberdeenshire)

Visited December 2015

The old parish church (or Old Kirk) in the village of Kincardine O'Neil on Deeside in north-east Scotland dates from the 14th Century, possibly on the site of an earlier church. The building is now ruined, after it went out of use due to a new church being built in 1862. There is also the outline of a hospital dating from the 14th Century which was demolished while the church was still in use. The road cuts through the foundations of this.

Despite being an ancient building, most of the gravestones in the surrounding churchyard date from the mid 19th Century onwards, including a modern extension. They are mostly plain stones with inscriptions, although here and there, mainly on the flat gravestones, there are some momento-mori skulls and the like. It's worth a short visit if you're in the area, but I wouldn't come here specially to see it!

Canterbury Cathedral Cloisters, Kent

Canterbury Cathedral - Cloisters

(visited December 2015)

There are many burials and memorials in Canterbury Cathedral itself, to the great and the good - very ornate sculptures, tombs of people such as the Black Prince, former bishops galore, and of course memorials to many soldiers (including a whole chapel for The Buffs).

Outside, in the cloister, little visited when I was there (perhaps due to the blustery wind blowing through, or the lack of signage), are the tombs of the servants of the cathedral. Memorial plaques are on the walls, while the floors have flat gravestones (a number with spaces where once there were brass inlays), and a few table tombs sit in the central grassy square. Burials stopped in the mid-19th century. The vaulted roof of the cloisters dates to the early 1400s, when the cathedral still had an active monastic purpose.

You do have to pay to get into the cathedral and the surrounding buildings including the cloisters, and the chapter house (it's about £10.50 for an adult), but if you can Gift Aid it your ticket is valid for a whole year.

Hyde Park Pet Cemetery, London

Hyde Park Pet Cemetery

(visited October 2015)

Since I blogged about this site in April, with photos taken a few years ago through the railings, I’ve been lucky enough to actually get inside the cemetery, as part of a guided tour for London Month of the Dead.  And what a splendid place it is too – row upon row of tiny gravestone, with epitaphs fit for beloved spouses and children, not just the family pet. Tales of long lives, faithfulness and sudden death are captured here, along with stones which simply record a name, and perhaps a date. Goodness knows what personality poor old Scum had, one can only imagine he/she was a cat who ate the family budgerigar!

The Royal Parks, who manage the site, hope to have more tours running in the future which will include access to the cemetery. The site is small (no more than the back garden of the gatekeeper’s lodge), and fragile, so it’s never going to have unrestricted access, but it’s well worth a visit to this tiny Victorian curiosity if you can get on a tour!

St John's Cemetery, Margate, Kent

St John’s Cemetery, Margate

Margate, Kent

Visited January 2014

A bit of a walk out of town (or even a bit of a walk from the nearest bus stop), at the very edge of Margate away from all the tourists and seaside tat, is this lovely Victorian cemetery. The original 10 acres opened in 1856, with the first burial in November of that year; the first interment was of Harriet Ross, who died of tuberculosis at the Margate Sea Bathing Hospital. Nowadays the cemetery covers 35 acres, and includes the Margate Crematorium.

Given the seafaring history of the town there are a number of sea related tombs, including sailors, submariners, drowning victims, and the Surf-Boat memorial which commemorates 9 men who died in December1897 while going to the aid of a vessel in distress (the surf-boat was a type of lifeboat). There are also a number of war graves here, both of the Great War and Second World War; not only British and Commonwealth burials, but a number of German war graves can also be found in the cemetery.

One of the most magnificent of the memorials in the cemetery is the life-sized horse on the memorial to John Sanger (a circus owner) and his wife and children; it’s gorgeous! There are also a number of other memorials to people involved in the entertainment industry, unsurprising given how popular Margate used to be as a holiday destination.