[Kinjilabs]

Do you ever read whats on them?

We have a few graveyards around here and I find it fasinating to read who they were and when they died, some date back to the 1700's.

 

[rona]

Only in passing when there is a footpath through a church yard.

I feel rather guilty about being there as I'm not religious at all

 

[tinktinktinkerbell]

when i was younger i would sometimes go with my dad to work (hes a stone mason) and i would wander around reading whats on the head stones

 

[Kittenfostermummy]

I used to be really drawn to graveyards. I suppose I still am but don't tend to go. I have always found them deeply moving and medative places where I like to just wander through and have a look and think of things.

 

[Kinjilabs]

Only in passing when there is a footpath through a church yard.

I feel rather guilty about being there as I'm not religious at all

Why feel guilty? Im not religious either but to get where I walk I have to go through the graveyard as the road goes through it

 

[Tigerneko]

Yes, I do! I love reading gravestones! It's a little bit morbid but I do like it - there are some interesting ones!

In my local one, there's a poor lady who was called Fanny Slinger and a more recent one, a lady who was a local hairdresser. It says on her gravestone that she was a 'Ladies hairdresser of Distinction', and at the bottom on the little square bit of stone (her actual head stone is either heart shaped or oval shaped, can't remember, but it has a rectangular base) it says in italics "She curled up and dyed" which I think is completely fantastic! It makes me smile every time I see it, and it really shows what a cracking sense of humour she must have had I like that lady and I never even knew her

There's also a really, really beautiful gravestone at the top of our local grave yard that I actually used to visit almost every day, and I used to pick a few little flowers from the park to brighten it up - it's an old victorian grave, and it has the most beautiful cherub/child angel all carved out of stone, and the grave contains 2 or 3 very young victorian children. I always feel sad for them because obviously their family will be long gone, and any living descendants probably don't care/know about them, so I sometimes wander over and spend a few moments there - I know i'd be grateful if someone did that for me once i'm gone and forgotten.

I'm glad i'm not the only one to read them

 

[MissShelley]

I find them fascinating too.

I walk past a graveyard when I take my little ones at work out for a walk, there are a few kiddies graves there One grave is a little baby who only lived for a week. My eyes well up each and everytime I walk past

I'm just thankful they are in tranquil surroundings, right at the foot of the Breiddan Mountain range. Seems like a perfect place to rest to me

 

[Kinjilabs]

Yes, I do! I love reading gravestones! It's a little bit morbid but I do like it - there are some interesting ones!

In my local one, there's a poor lady who was called Fanny Slinger and a more recent one, a lady who was a local hairdresser. It says on her gravestone that she was a 'Ladies hairdresser of Distinction', and at the bottom on the little square bit of stone (her actual head stone is either heart shaped or oval shaped, can't remember, but it has a rectangular base) it says in italics "She curled up and dyed" which I think is completely fantastic! It makes me smile every time I see it, and it really shows what a cracking sense of humour she must have had I like that lady and I never even knew her

There's also a really, really beautiful gravestone at the top of our local grave yard that I actually used to visit almost every day, and I used to pick a few little flowers from the park to brighten it up - it's an old victorian grave, and it has the most beautiful cherub/child angel all carved out of stone, and the grave contains 2 or 3 very young victorian children. I always feel sad for them because obviously their family will be long gone, and any living descendants probably don't care/know about them, so I sometimes wander over and spend a few moments there - I know i'd be grateful if someone did that for me once i'm gone and forgotten.

I'm glad i'm not the only one to read them

"She curled up and dyed

Love that, what a great lady she must have been

 

[rona]

Why feel guilty? Im not religious either but to get where I walk I have to go through the graveyard as the road goes through it

Dunno really.

I just feel I'm being disrespectful to those that believe.

To them that place holds a special relevance and to me it's just an historic place.

 

[skip]

I don't go to any very often but I do read the headstones when I do, there are some very beautiful ones. In the cemetery where my brother is there are all sorts of mementos like a persons favourite bag of sweets or drink,Teddy bears,scarves etc with little messages and no one ever vandalizes the cemetery which I have found very surprising. Its actually a very beautiful place and so tranquil.

 

[Tigerneko]

I find them fascinating too.

I walk past a graveyard when I take my little ones at work out for a walk, there are a few kiddies graves there One grave is a little baby who only lived for a week. My eyes well up each and everytime I walk past

I'm just thankful they are in tranquil surroundings, right at the foot of the Breiddan Mountain range. Seems like a perfect place to rest to me

Yeah, in the one near me, there are LOADS of children, it's so sad to see. There's a shocking amount of stillborns and days/weeks old, and even a set of twins who died within a couple of weeks of one another - I can't imagine how that must have felt to their parents there is one baby's grave which tbh I find quite disturbing - the baby was a stillborn, and there is an actual photograph of the baby that's been laminated and stuck on the headstone, every time I look at it, it makes me go cold to know that it's a photo of a dead baby obviously the parents find some sort of comfort in it, but personally, there's something deeply wrong about it to me.

One of my school friends is also in there, she died of lung cancer at 17 years old and another girl who was a couple of years below me at school, she fell out of a tree that she was climbing, looking for birds nests. I think she was only 13 and it was a massive shock when it happened, her grave is always so colourful and well kept, and even now, the best part of 10 years later, there are still always new messages and nice little trinkets and pretty ornaments from her friends and family.

 

[Guest]

when i were younger they used to fascinate me and i took charcoal rubbings from some of the more interesting or famous ones i encountered which were then lovingly mounted and framed and hung on the wall for some time , they are now in the loft after i redecorated the house

 

[bordie]

i read them all .

 

[MrRustyRead]

I must be the only one that can't stand grave yards, they send chills down my spine. I only go to them when I have to, but I find it spoils it at my brothers when all of the people have all of the tat around their graves, I wouldn't mind if it was tasteful and they maintained it. But a lot of them don't so they look a right mess.

It always confirms to me that I never ever want to be buried

 

[MCWillow]

i read them all .

Me too.

I visit my best friends grave, every year on her birthday. There is a cherub headstone near her that is for a child, and over 100 years old.

Sams family always put some flowers on that grave when they visit Sam, and I always stop to say hello.....

 

[MCWillow]

I must be the only one that can't stand grave yards, they send chills down my spine. I only go to them when I have to, but I find it spoils it at my brothers when all of the people have all of the tat around their graves, I wouldn't mind if it was tasteful and they maintained it. But a lot of them don't so they look a right mess.

It always confirms to me that I never ever want to be buried

Sam was cremated, she has a commerative stone, as does my Grandad - you dont have to be buried to have a stone of rememberance

 

[Colliebarmy]

i read them all .

it would be sad NOT to read them, how great it is to think you are saying/thinking of thier name when they have been gone 200 years, we pass through a churchyard twice a day and ive read most of them, those that made it to 101 and those that didnt reach thier first birthday, the rich and the not so rich, death is the ultimate leveller, although it is a fact headstones will only mark the dead whose families could afford one.

Our most memorable resident is one CHATFIELD BLOOD, now thats a great name

 

[tincan]

"when i were younger they used to fascinate me and i took charcoal rubbings ah Diablo you are not alone .... I too did this when i was about 9ish , have always had a fascination with cemeteries and headstones .... Very reflective and peacefull places , full of history and of course sadness. I am not religious , i will not be going into one I love Architecture of churches and appreciate the skills and (fatalities) that went into building them . I took my grandaughter (7yrs) to a local 3th century church to show her the Lepers hole in the wall , same as my grandad did with me many moons ago :001_smile: I adore Stained glass windows , anything actually related to the medeval period ...

 

[Colliebarmy]

i read them all .

it would be sad NOT to read them, how great it is to think you are saying/thinking of thier name when they have been gone 200 years, we pass through a churchyard twice a day and ive read most of them, those that made it to 101 and those that didnt reach thier first birthday, the rich and the not so rich, death is the ultimate leveller, although it is a fact headstones will only mark the dead whose families could afford one.

Our most memorable resident is one CHATFIELD BLOOD, now thats a great name

Im not so bothered about what momento's are left on graves as by the lack of any, which - to me - says no-one visits the grave, id guess children visit parents, and also grandparents maybe but then it tails off, Ive never visited my GP's graves, though after doind some family tree stuff im thinking I will now, not sure we had monies for headstones though.

The charges made by crematoriums for plaques and entries in memorial books are quite high, we now have the father in laws plaque here as his widow couldnt keep paying the fees, visiting a crem years on is a bit vague too, unlike a grave, the ashes once scattered are soon assimilated into the grounds/gardens.

 

[Megan345]

I read them when I go to a graveyard. When I was young and my gran looked after me while my mum worked, we used to visit graveyards a lot as she enjoys researching our family tree. Some of the messages are fascinating.