The dead are everywhere. You can’t avoid them. Under city buildings and railway lines, gardens and churches. As centuries pass, memorials are removed, with the land re-used for new purposes, the graves rarely rediscovered, let alone re-marked. However, what of those too poor to ever have their own headstone, or even their own grave? Pits... Continue Reading →
Going Out in Style! Ghana’s Fantasy Coffins
Fantasy, figurative or proverbial coffins (abebuu adekai), are unusual, transient memorials, being elaborate representations of the deceased’s interests, dreams and achievements.
Whitby’s Hidden Quaker Burial Ground
Whitby’s Quaker burial ground is impressively well hidden. To most passers-by, it looks like a garden extension to some of the more grander Georgian houses on Bagdale.
“I decided to hide Charlie Chaplin’s body and solve my problems…”
On 12th December 1978, Roman Wardas, a 24-year old Polish refugee took to the stand in Switzerland, accused of stealing Chaplin’s body.
The Curious World of Dollhouse Graves
Sitting like miniature residences between the headstones, these doll’s house graves are a striking example of non-traditional funerary art and changing ideas of grief, innocence, personalisation and burial.
The Hanging Coffins and Burial Caves of Lumiang
The practise of Hanging Coffins is arguably the most famous funerary ritual of the Kankanaey people of Sagada.
The Grave of Clasped Hands: Love Conquering Death
It’s a twee little statement that love can conquer death, but one that rings romantically true in the adjoining graves of a Dutch Colonel and his aristocratic sweetheart.
A Trip to Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery is a sprawling necropolis, nestled in the busy – and terribly posh – London Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Collection Feature: Ernest Frost
Ernest was a country boy, raised in the fields of Derbyshire, before finding love, achieving a very modern job and dying far too young.
The Funeral of Fireman Wale
Fire Constable Arthur Wale lost his life aged 46 in the Derham Boot Factory fire of 1906...