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Went out for a walk round the roads this morning, and on the way back had one of my occasional wanders around our small village cemetery, as it was looking very pretty with lots of daffodils and bright artificial flowers on the graves. I love to try to read the really old, eroded headstones and imagine who the people were. There are quite a number that died in 1919, and it occurred to me that perhaps it was in the 'flu epidemic.
Going further back into the 1800's, there are several graves of men who died young, in their 20's and 30's, and I suspect they may have been killed in quarry accidents. No such thing as H&S back then. There was a quarry to my village and the next one, so I suppose the young men either worked on the land or went to work in the quarries.
Then there are three young men who died in the Great War, buried in France but with their names added below those of their parents.
I'm also fascinated simply by the names on the stones. If anyone lacked ideas for naming a child, a stroll around the local cemetery provides a huge choice of names familiar or rare. Where the wife's maiden name is included, you can see how the village families intermarried and changed. Then reaching the 1950's and onwards, the surnames become more varied, an indication of how people started moving around, and not spending their whole life in the same village. Such a shame it was not the custom to add a profession to the stone, what a social insight that would give to a simple stroll.
Going further back into the 1800's, there are several graves of men who died young, in their 20's and 30's, and I suspect they may have been killed in quarry accidents. No such thing as H&S back then. There was a quarry to my village and the next one, so I suppose the young men either worked on the land or went to work in the quarries.
Then there are three young men who died in the Great War, buried in France but with their names added below those of their parents.
I'm also fascinated simply by the names on the stones. If anyone lacked ideas for naming a child, a stroll around the local cemetery provides a huge choice of names familiar or rare. Where the wife's maiden name is included, you can see how the village families intermarried and changed. Then reaching the 1950's and onwards, the surnames become more varied, an indication of how people started moving around, and not spending their whole life in the same village. Such a shame it was not the custom to add a profession to the stone, what a social insight that would give to a simple stroll.
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