West Norwood (2018)

West Norwood Cemetery, London

Visited March 2018

During the snowy weather in the early Spring, I took a walk to West Norwood cemetery. It wasn't one of the heaviest snow days, more of a light sprinkling across the gravestones and grass, and covering the spring flowers which had optimistically come into bloom.

St Mildred’s Churchyard, Minster, Kent

St Mary the Virgin's Churchyard, Minster, Kent

Visited April 2017

Not the Minster in Sheppey, Kent, this church is in the town of Minster near Ramsgate in Kent. Nice and confusing!

Sadly the very large church was closed when I visited, but apparently it's well worth a visit. It was founded c.670AD, as the church of the monastery for Nuns founded as Minster Abbey. It is sometimes known as 'The Cathedral of the Marshes' due to its size. The interior retains a number of Medieval features (as does the exterior), and there's an old Victorian school house in the churchyard.

The surrounding churchyard is landscaped, and has clearly had a lot of gravestones cleared at some point in the past. There are some old stones dotted around, but most look to be 19th century. Peaceful and well worth a wander round, but perhaps best timed to visit when the church is open too (which I shall be doing if I visit again!).

For a good overview of the history of the church building, see the Kent Archaeology page. 

St Mary's, Rotherhithe

Churchyard of St Mary's Rotherhithe, London

Visited October 2016

This pretty church in Rotherhithe has a fascinating history, mainly associated with seafaring. There's been a church on the site since at least the 13th century, the current one dating from the 18th century. 

It has strong links to the Pilgrim Fathers, as the captain of The Mayflower, Christopher Jones, came from Rotherhithe. He died shortly after The Mayflower returned to London in 1622, and is buried at St Mary's, although the exact position of his grave is unknown. There's a plaque to him inside the church, erected in 1965. 

Also inside the church, the communion table and chairs are made from wood salvaged from the famous Fighting Temeraire, a gunship at the Battle of Trafalgar which was broken up for scrap in Rotherhithe in 1838 (see Turner's famous painting here).

Much of the churchyard surrounding the building is inaccessible behind railings (including some old memorial stones saved from the old church), but some is still accessible. Part of the grounds are now a children's play area, so you might get some odd looks if you're stopping at the gravestones! Note that the cafe in the corner is actually in the old Rotherhithe watch-house, one of the roles of which was to guard against body snatchers!

The most fascinating burial which is easily accessible is the Wilson family grave (bottom 2 photographs), which includes the grave of Prince Lee Boo of Palua, a Pacific island, who was buried there in 1784. For the full story of how he came to be in Rotherhithe, see here.

High speed squirrel!

Holy Trinity Church, Queenborough, Kent

Holy Trinity Church, Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey, Kent

Visited April 2017

The lovely church at Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey dates from the 14th century, and contains a very rare Flemish painted ceiling dating from the the late 17th century.

The surrounding churchyard from around the time of the Reformation, although of course most of the gravestones in the churchyard are Victorian with a few 18th century stones mixed in. 

The main entrance is through a lychgate (which dates to 1897), and the churchyard looks very well tended, but not to the detriment of any wildlife; in springtime there were bluebells galore around the graves, and there are some mature trees providing shade. There's only one really impressive monument - a squat obelisk on a large pedestal - which I managed to photograph so badly that it's not included below...

Despite being between two roads, the churchyard is very quiet, and should you find yourself in Kent, this is one of the many lovely little churchyards it's well worth visiting.

St Mary de Crypt Church, Gloucester

Churchyard of St Mary de Crypt, Gloucester

Visited July 2017

The church of St Mary de Crypt in Gloucester dates back to the 12th century. Its churchyard, to the rear of the church, is quite overgrown, and backs onto a public plaza where there was a food and music event going on the day I visited, so people had overspilled from there into the churchyard. There are some interesting graves - most of which appear to have been moved nearer to the walls, but as well as the weeds it's a bit untidy, and probably not worth the effort of visiting unless you're just passing.

I didn't go into the church itself - it's currently undergoing restoration, and due to reopen in 2019. Once it's open, a visit to the church and its Medieval wall paintings, then a walk through the churchyard en route to the ruins of Greyfriars, will be on my to-do list!

Hamilton Road Cemetery, Deal, Kent

Hamilton Road Cemetery, Deal, Kent

Visited April 2017

Just outside the centre of the coastal town of Deal, about 15 minutes walk from the station or the beach, is the Victorian cemetery, opened in 1856. It contains a number of military graves - perhaps not surprising as Deal has long been a town with miliary connections - and there is a very comprehensive wikipedia article about the military graves.

The cemetery contains a large number of graves, some of which have fallen into disrepair. Most are simple gravestones; there are not a lot of large memorials or ostentatious mausoleums here. It's a large cemetery, but the grounds are well maintained, with mown lawns and suchlike in the newer areas, and trees are plentiful but small and bushy in the main, so you're unlikely to get lost. The cemetery is now maintained by Dover Council, and is still open for new burials.