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 →
The Lost Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The lost mausoleum at Halicarnassus in Bodrum, Turkey was one of the most visually impressive burial monuments the world had ever seen
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 did not give them willingly”: The Friesthorpe Window
A small rural church in Friesthorpe, Lincolnshire holds one of the most poignant memorials to the sacrifices of war in the form of a beautiful stained glass window.
Ye Olde Eco-Burial: The Trapdoor Coffin
In the 16th and 17th centuries, plenty of rural parishes in Scotland utilised a communal coffin of sorts called a ‘common mortkist’, ‘bier’ or ‘parish coffin’.
The Tiny Grave of Tom Thumb
According to local legend, the Tom Thumb of Tattershall measured just over 18 inches tall and had reached the grand old age of 101 upon his death in 1620.
Nanette Stocker, the Smallest Woman in the Kingdom
Nanette (incorrectly recorded as ‘Nanetta’ on her stone) is a forgotten music hall star and little person who died with a huge following.
Avast! Here be a Pirate Cemetery
Sainte-Marie was was a haven for pirates in the 17th and 18th centuries. Swashbucklers had to be buried somewhere...
A Trip to Avebury Church: Henge Not Included
Sitting in the metaphorical shadow of Avebury’s mystical stone circle is the little modest structure of St James' Church.
Andrew Hyslop; Covenanter, Martyr.
One postcard lead to a story of a murdered covenanter who ended his days in a field in Dumfriesshire