Treated myself to a birthday book from @foxlanebooks.bsky.social Really good selection of natural history and nature writing, took me a while to choose. #booksky

Forever young, sisters Mabel and Emma are host to an ever increasing cover of wildflowers They fell asleep days apart, comforted by their eternal bond, embraced by their closeness to nature’s finest

On Christmas Eve 1944, my great-grandparents Tom and Elsie Hubball hosted a party to raise money for the local Red Cross branch. My grandad’s brother dressed as Santa. My grandparents had been married around 14 months. #familyhistory #localhistory #Derbyshire

Made a tiny Christmas tree out of fossils: the stars are crinoid ossicles, the trunk dinosaur bone & the branches are sharks’ teeth 🎄🦴

On this day in 1848, Emily Brontë was interred in the family vault in Haworth church. Here’s a photo I took of a copy of the burial record on display in the church in 2018. It’s signed by the Curate, Arthur Nicholls, Charlotte’s future husband.

Saw this in Ripley Cemetery today. At some point in time the headstone has fallen backwards and now the tree is growing around it, holding it fast. #cemetery #gravestone #cemeterywandering

You can often find snippets of oral history to add to your research by searching newspaper archives for terms like nonagenarian, golden/diamond wedding, grand old lady/man. Older residents were often asked what their town/village was like when they were young. #oneplacewednesday

The problem is that juuuuust as the light is about to be perfect, the sun goes behind a decorative peak on the church next door. This is the shot a minute before the block - might be the best I can do.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK STAFF WHERE DRACULA’S GRAVE IS THERE ISN’T ONE. Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.

On Monday (10th November) there’s a new episode of Weird in the Wade about a poltergeist that rattled Biggleswade in the 1990s. I’m joined by a very special guest (I’ll announce who this weekend) and there’s an update from Andy about his “haunted house.” 👻 👇🏼Sketch from 1825.

One of my favourite ghost story books, including tales of headless phantoms, ghostly footsteps and screaming skulls. It also has a wonderfully creepy illustration in the introduction 👻 : Ghosts of Derbyshire, published in the 1970s. #phantomsfriday

Fabulous Visigothic bronze belt buckles inlaid with cloisonné glass. AD 500s. Which is your favourite? From the Visigothic Necropolis of Duratón, near Segovia, Spain. Casa del Sol Museum, Segovia 📷 by me #Archaeology

Guy Fawkes was born around Aprill in 1570 in Stonegate, York. He was baptised at St Michael le Belfrey (below) on the 15th of that month. His father, a Church of England lawyer, died when Guy was eight. His mother later married a Catholic, which, along with Guy’s schooling at St Peter’s

The village of Ambergate in Derbyshire is named for being the place where the river Amber meets the Derwent. Here’s the view from Halfpenny Bridge.

Gravestone of Elizabeth Work, 1743, in Eastford, Connecticut. Carved by an unidentified local carver who is known as the “Eastford Dot Carver.”

In the unassuming but atmospheric graveyard of Whitechapel Church in the former textile town of Cleckheaton where I am now living, lies this fascinating mid 19th century gravestone, I had not heard of New Grenada. Bogota was at that time the capital of the Spanish Viceroyalty

Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student

As we approach All Souls Day when in many countries, people remember their loved ones who have died, the lovely story of a small Yorkshire community who many years ago came together to ensure that everyone could be buried with dignity. The story of the Farndale Hearse. Please enlarge the image.

Another for #PhantomsFriday and #Halloween. A woman stumbles upon a church full of dead worshippers--including her late husband and child. It proves a dire omen. thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/a...

Before today’s post I just want to say a little thank you to @annaandthedead.bsky.social and @orsa-marga.bsky.social for curating this little community for those of us who appreciate the value and beauty of graveyards and churches. I’ve really enjoyed seeing everyone’s posts.

Day 30 #31daysofgraves - colour. A red, blue, gold and white Christogram inlaid on the headstone of William Righton who died aged 31 in 1867. I’m impressed at the durability of this decoration, considering it’s over a hundred and fifty years old.

Don’t forget to look at the county information in the front pages of Kelly’s, White’s & Pigot's directories. They can contain useful information about ancient history, geography & agriculture, as these images of pages from the 1855 White´s Directory show #OnePlaceWednesday

#31daysofgraves day 29 - occupation. Blacksmith Charles Copnall’s headstone is shaped like an anvil with a hammer resting on top. Inscription in alt text.

#31daysofgraves day 28 - column. I know I’m slightly cheating by posting a photo of a grave I used for another prompt but I remembered I have the original paperwork for it: “best York stone coursing, best White Hard Sicilian Marble Column Headstone, Kerbs, and Posts, as design selected.”

#31daysofgraves 27 - tree. A posthumous aptonym for Thomas Underwood who rests under a large yew tree. Inscription in alt text.

#31daysofgraves #26 figure When young Margaret Pitkin died of meningitis in 1899, her father was said to have given her photo to the sculptor with instructions to carve an exact replica. He then refused to pay-why? See links. www.findagrave.com/memorial/299... gravelyspeaking.com/2024/10/12/b...

Two girls with garlands, protected by an angel. A pleasing piece of late Victorian sentiment in Ipswich Old Cemetery. #31daysofgraves 26: figures

#31daysofgraves 26 - figure. This sweet little effigy is perched on the grave of John Peter Hodgkinson who died in 1932 aged 1yr 2mths. I took this picture in 2022 when someone had given him a small toy dog to hold. His mother Agnes died less than 3 years later and is buried with him.

The Rockingham Mausoleum at Nether Haugh was built between 1784-1793 by John Carr for William Wentworth Fitzwilliam in memory of his uncle, Charles Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham and Prime Minister at the time of his death in 1782. The monument was largely complete by 1789.

#31daysofgraves day 25 - ornament; a simple wooden cross on the grave of Ernest Dring who died in 1937, and his parents. He served during WW1 and was badly wounded and taken prisoner in March 1917. He was released at the Armistice and worked as a miner but his health never fully recovered. 1/2

#31daysofgraves day 24 - unique animal. This is a picture I took in Feb 2015 of the pet cemetery at Hopton Hall, Derbyshire. One of the pets buried there is Boris the Russian wolfhound “who met death beneath the wheels of a motor car” in 1916. #petcemetery

#31daysofgraves day 23 - cross. This stone cross sculpted to make it look like wood stands on the grave of Selina Elizabeth Woodruff who died in 1910, aged 22. Her death notice states that she died “after a long and painful illness”. Her paternal grandmother, also Selina Elizabeth, died in 1911.

The Barochan Cross, c1000, a rare grave cross survival from the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Remarkably, it stood outside for nearly a thousand years, before being conserved in 1977 and reset in Paisley Abbey. #31DaysofGraves 23: cross

#31daysofgraves day 22 - landscape. In early spring, Codnor churchyard is full of snowdrops, and a little later, primroses. By April the cemetery is full of daffodils and crocuses, and the cherry trees blossom. In summer, the fox-and-cubs (orange hawkweed) takes its turn. Such a beautiful place.

When someone seeks to bring me down (had a bit of a rough time on twitter today) I have a strong urge to channel the grimness & angst into something positive. So, here’s a photo I took of some things I grew-really hope it makes your brain feel good🌿

#31daysofgraves day 21 - bronze. The lychgates of Codnor Cemetery house the two bronze plaques that list the names of men from Codnor and Loscoe who died in the First World War. It was erected and unveiled in 1921. (I thought I had pictures of the plaques but I can’t find them.) 1/3

The tragedy of Aberfan still resonates 59 years on. Today we remember the 144 lives lost, and those who fought to save them. Read/listen to accounts of Swansea University students who helped at the disaster site: ow.ly/8fV550Lgx6c With thanks to Richard Burton Archives, Swansea University.

In the shadow of York’s ancient walls, diagonally opposite the railway station, lies a quiet patch of grass shaded by trees. A few weathered tombstones and a modest plaque mark it as the city’s cholera burial ground a small but powerful reminder of the epidemic that struck

#31daysofgraves day 20 - wreath. This is one of the most detailed monuments I’ve seen in my local area. It stands on the grave of Elizabeth and John Moss in Ripley Cemetery, Derbyshire.

Here's the other side and the grinning shoulder skulls from this remarkable little 18th century grave in the kirkyard of St Cuthbert's Parish Church in Edinburgh. #31DaysOfGraves

#31daysofgraves day 19 - social group. There’s a street in Codnor called Pinewood Avenue named after two local dignitaries and schoolmasters, Mr Arthur Pine and Mr Colin Wood. Colin and his wife Ada’s headstone is the large one on the right; Arthur and Annie Pine’s is the small one on the left.

The border between Cantwara rīce (Kingdom of the Kentish) & Sūþseaxna rīce (South Saxons) is still the border between the counties of Kent & Sussex A 1,400 year old ditch created to stop conflict, by marking the border to avoid confusion, is our southern woodland boundary

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 1687: You don't have to share your writing unless you want to. You don't need to talk to anyone about your writing unless you want to. You don't need to seek publication unless you want to. You can get 99% of the benefits of writing without doing any of those things.

So pretty 😍

#31DaysofGraves - Day 18 - Mistake Old Cemetery, Eastford, Connecticut, USA I find these spacing errors so endearing. This carver did a great job on the main inscription and just misjudged on the verse. I especially love the little ^ in “welcome”.

Day 18 #31daysofgraves - mistake. This is the grave of my great-great-grandparents in Belper Cemetery, Derbyshire. The headstone states that William died on 15th Feb 1936, but that was the date he was buried; he died on the 12th. Always look at different sources when building your family tree!

"Next autumn, when the leaves began to fall, he came back and started sweeping at the top of the path, where he died. Each year he's been getting nearer and nearer to the end of the path. When he gets right to the end - well, I wouldn't want to be the mistress." A M Burrage, The Sweeper #BookWormSat

My latest library read - The Haunted Shore by Neil Spring. A tense thriller involving a complex family dynamic, long-hidden secrets and a supernatural twist. A perfect read for this time of year.

My latest library read - The Haunted Shore by Neil Spring. A tense thriller involving a complex family dynamic, long-hidden secrets and a supernatural twist. A perfect read for this time of year.