Category: Victorians
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The Woman Who Jumped and Lived
In 1885, Sarah Ann Henley was 22 years old and working as a barmaid at the Rising Sun pub in Ashton.
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Empress Elisabeth’s Mourning Mask
A closer look at the world’s most famous mourning mask.
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The Hardy Tree
The Hardy Tree is a centuries-old ash tree surrounded by a radiating circle of densely-packed headstones. But why was it created?
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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…
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Big Surprises and Bigger Vaults at Laceby Cemetery
A village on the outskirts of Grimsby isn’t exactly the typical location for an enormous Norwegian funerary monument.
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The Fertile Grave of Victor Noir
The frankly massive bulge in Noir’s trousers made his memorial a popular destination for women visiting Père Lachaise for over a century…
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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.
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William Mackenzie’s Liverpool Pyramid
The idea of a hunched poker-playing corpse inside a pyramid has a undeniable more public appeal.
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Window Shopping with Queen Victoria
Some of Queen Victoria’s mourning jewellery is going up for Auction on March 24th 2021 and if you can’t treat the catalogue as the ultimate…
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Louth Cemetery: Thinking Local
Louth Cemetery, servicing a small market town, holds as much awe and history as any city burial ground.
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Legsby St Thomas: Beef Rolls and Busy Farmers
Legsby St Thomas: A place for worship, farmers, locked chest mysteries and grave stories waiting to be told.
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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.
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Mourning Gems: Hester Ann Barfield
A hair brooch, a name and a cross-continental journey. Hester Ann Barfield 1853-1856.
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The Stowmarket Guncotton Explosion of 1871
The Stowmarket Guncotton Explosion occurred on a Friday afternoon, on 11thAugust 1871. The explosion killed 28 and injured a further 70.
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Annie Fairlamb Mellon: The Geordie Medium.
Annie Fairlamb Mellon was one of the UK’s greatest materialisation mediums and is so rarely celebrated for her weird and wonderful claims.
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St Peter’s Church, Smallburgh: Tiny Shoes and Rood Screens
The rood screen at Smallburgh is arguably the main focal point of the church today.
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Death By Coffin!
“Killed by a Coffin at Kensal Green Cemetery…”
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A Sensation in Quebec!
‘A Quebec Woman Creates a Sensation, Riding Through St. John Street in a Hearse, Reclining on the Coffin-Bed, and Smoking a Pipe…’
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The Peterloo Massacre: Culpability and City Memorials
The Peterloo Massacre was as a result of police brutality during a protest. A protest that essentially occurred as a result of two public issues…
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Ice, Ice, Body: Introducing Ice Caskets
In the age before embalming and refrigerated storage, keeping bodies preserved and cool was a serious issue for undertakers and families alike.
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Two Towers and an Eccentric Priest: Booton St Michael
Lying in such an isolated place, Booton St Michael has come to be known as ‘the cathedral of the fields’.
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A Day at Southampton Old Cemetery
Southampton Old Cemetery is a historical site, a nature reserve, a place for tours and relaxation. Its also a place to dodge dog poo by…
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Tiles and Victoriana at St Martin’s Church, Waithe.
By a small turning off the A16, sits a little shrine to the Victorian Gothic.
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Jay’s Mourning Warehouse
Due to the superstition of not holding mourning clothing in the household for longer than necessary, when a death occurred, you needed to act fast…
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Whitby Jet: What, Why and When?
With Halloween knocking on our door and Whitby goth events calling our name, many of our minds turn to jet, indulgent dark jewellery and the…
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Timothy Clark Smith: The Grave With a Window
Instead of considering glass coffins and mausoleums, physician Timothy Clark Smith had rather more practical ideas…
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Grieving Angels and Tudor Tragedies at St Andrew’s Church, Blickling.
However, in my experience, I have found so many of these tiny parish churches filled to the rafters with historical artefacts, sculptures, artwork and more…
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Victorian Iron Mummies: The Fisk Casket
Fisk’s patent explains that ‘the air maybe exhausted so completely as entirely to prevent the decay of the contained body on principles well understood; or,…
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Hélène Smith: The Medium Who Spoke to Martians
Scientists and social reformers may be all well and good, but what about a young woman who spoke to aliens?
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Sheffield General Cemetery: The Good, The Bad and the Granite
In its relatively small grounds, it boasts ten listed buildings and monuments ‘including Grade II listed catacombs, an Anglican chapel, with the gatehouse, non-conformist chapel…
Burials & Beyond 