Graveyard as nature researve

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John Bugden - Died 16th October 1838

john Bugden [Link]
Died : 16th October 1838

All Saints - Skeyton

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Saint Mary - Burgh Next Aylsham

St Mary - Burgh-next-Aylsham
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Swanton Abbott - Saint Michael

Robert Hayne Died June 9th 1776
St Michael - Swanton Abbot
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St Michael - Swanton Abbot
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Robert Spink Died October 15th 1857
St Michael - Swanton Abbot
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St Michael - Swanton Abbot
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Saint Mary The Virgin - Beachamwell



Saint Mary The Virgin - Beachamwell

Saint Mary The Virgin - Beachamwell - is a real surprise as you see it for the first time. The site resembles a Church and graveyard in the North of England as they sit in a small enclosure on a large village green. Almost like being in County Durham rather than in Norfolk.

The Church was firmly locked and tantalisingly there was a notice advising that the key was held nearby. Unlike other experiences of locked Churches, such as Sporle, I decided to look for the key from a local address. The map on the Church door seemed to be clear and I set off on an adventure. Regrettably, the map wasn't to scale and the Anglican Authorities have imagined that visitors know the village and understand where places are. If only locals wanted the key then they wouldn't need a map. I tried to ring the 'phone numbers from my mobile although as with remote areas of Norfolk there was no signal. Tension and frustration mounted until I finally gave up. I walked up and down the street a number of times without success or being able to find a mobile 'phone signal.

The graveyard is unremarkable and I didn't spend long there after  fizzing with disappointment for a short while. The Anglican Authorities have cleared away anything that was interesting and left behind a melange of rather sad1930's  memorials.

Saint Mary The Virgin - Beachamwell
The Porch

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Saint Mary The Virgin - Beachamwell
Table or Chest tomb

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I



Saint Mary The Virgin - Beachamwell
An unremarkable graveyard and an inaccessible interior

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Shingham - Saint Botolph



Saint Botolph - Shingham
The Church stands in admirable isolation

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I love "Planet Norfolk" partly because it has so many interesting places and it throws up surprises in abundance.

I like to be surprised by Churches and graveyards in out of the way places and I found Shingham in this manner.

I'd never heard of the place before although the Church is a little jewel. The graveyard is large and has the air of a site that has at some point been cleared of many memorials and left as a large parkland. Saint Botolph sits in this park and dominates the consecrated site like a ship in a dry dock. At some point it feels as though the Church will slip its moorings and sail away.

This Grade 1 listed Church is Norman and has a beautiful door although (after peeking into the wndows) the interior has gone to rack and ruin under the disinterested watch of the Anglican Authorities who argue in an animated way about the sex lives of consenting adults whilst  national treasures slip away into the ground. The Church needs to be protected from the 'care' of the Authorities before the building finally crumbles away like others in this area. If this is the care that a grade 1 listed building receives then I query the fate of the others.



Saint Botolph - Shingham
The Norman arch

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Saint Botolph - Shingham
Detail from the Norman arch

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Saint Botolph - Shingham

Detail from the Norman arch

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Sarah Watling

St Michael-Swanton Abbot
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You may remember the story of Sarah Watling earlier in this blog dating to 1833. Sarah's body was unlawfully removed from the graveyard as part of a 'body snatching' raid.  I have always been surprised at the idea of stealing a body which seems a noisy and difficult business. However, when I visited this graveyard the idea of body snatching became more understandable as a process. The graveyard is remote and away from prying eyes and its easy to trudge across the fields or take a cart along the lane.  I'm sure that Sarah Watling was the tip of the ice berg and that other bodies were removed from their graves ahead of time.

Charles Arthur Fysh

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Robert Bradfield Died 5th February 1844

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Traditionalist English piety

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William Withers Died 9th April 1832

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This is clearly a stone in danger of falling apart from shelling. I anticipate that the next frost will see the outer shell fall away and the inscription collapsing to the ground. William Withers is the son of George and Mary and there was a Withers family at Newton by Castle Acre.

Cast aside at Sporle

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The Living and the dead

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I like this picture because it shows that eternal idea of the living in proximity to the dead. The house is on the boundary of the cemetery and at one point the clergy who lived in the house would have have entered the cemetery through the black door.

Robert Goodson - Rackheath



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English cemeteries are surprising places and Rackheath is no exception. I had imagined that a cemetery cross is pretty standard although in Rackheath we find a cross looking very different to others and here Robert Goodson's grave is marvellous. The cross is ornate and imaginative. On the day that I visited, it was sunny and hot at around 27 centigrade although in the current cold June it is hard to imagine that temperature anymore.

John Lee - Edingthorpe

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Monument park

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I love pictures like this as photography gathers together different periods of monuments and memorials in one collection. The stonework memorials look like a sculpture park of inscriptions, hope and aspiration. The work involved in this collection is enormous if we add together the stone masons, the labour involved in putting the monuments together and the grass cutters over the years who have kept the monuments clear of greenery. Despite this the monuments start to fall apart and disintegrate. Graveyards are clearly high maintenance to keep clear and an even higher cost to individuals to create in the first place.

Swafield



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This is a reflective picture of Swafield earlier in the year and before the weather changed for the worse. From the perspective of a very wet and cold June the earlier part of the year seems preferable.

Gerald Hyde Charles Stracey

All Saints - Rackheath

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Edward Cresswell - West Lexham

Edward Cresswell - West Lexham

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Table tomb Saint Botolph - Trunch



Table tomb Saint Botolph - Trunch

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