Hatch, Match and Dispatch

Births marriages and deaths, the church and it’s yard tells it all, a unique record of the of the people who passed this way before.

So I bring you some images  of a chapel, a very old one, when I say old I mean old, founded in 1662; now what I know about ecclesiastical history, you could write on the back of a communion wafer, save to say I think this chapel played a historic part in the development of the non conformist church. I didn’t set out to photograph this place, I just sort of got sidetracked.

When I looked at this elevation, I thought it was a shame to see a modern burglar alarm stuck on the side of a  historic building,

But then they could have put it on the southern elevation and that would have been much worse

So back to the  burglar alarm, what would they founders of this church have made of that? The door was locked, a sign of the times? to guard against vandalism?  certainly when I was a child, church’s weren’t locked.

But there was evidence of vandalism, graffiti on the windows; the writer left his/her name and the date, 1869 and returned again in 1874 etched in the glass.

There was evidence of make do and mend, on going changes to the fabric of the place.

In the older part of the grave yard there were some impressive stones, who’s  inscriptions are as sharp and clear as the day they were carved.

The primroses were in flower, amongst the stones, as I imagine they all ways have, since 1662 and before

As well as the ‘flash with the cash’ tombs there was also evidence of ‘off the shelf’ stone masonry, more your ‘mid range’ tomb stone, many of the stones had the same motif, ‘Thy Will Be Done’

There will have been many graves that had no stone and some that were very simple, like this one, just two initials

 

Looking at them made me think of the phrase Joe used to trot out when he was a bout 4 years old and just trying to get his head around  the fact that things die,  ‘When your dead, your dead.’ he used to announce to any one and everyone and he’s right, for posh stone or paupers stone, the moss and the ivy still grow, all things being equal, in death.

The part of the church yard that is in use today, was vibrant and well kept and loved, some of the stones had very personal mementos on them, I wonder what people used to leave at the grave side back in the seventeen hundreds?

There had been a recent wedding,

By the gate, the leaves of the yew tree,  (the symbolism of the of yew trees, often found in church yards, in representing the soul’s immortality, is said to predate Christianity) with the modern day addition of fag ends and confetti

Am I coming over as morbid on this post?  it didn’t feel that way,  just reflective, an an interesting diversion.