I’ve never had a lot to do with churches. I must have been christened in one, but I can’t quite remember it. I was married in a church, and I’ve been to other weddings and one or two funerals, but my attendances at church are probably fewer than the average. And lucky indeed is the man who has never been called on to attend a wedding or funeral.
In my experience, the goings-on in church are dreary, and best avoided if possible. The people who are involved in church life are often dreary too, and I have never had any reason to think they tend to be any nicer or admirable than anybody else. Vicars can sometimes be entertaining, but it is very rarely intentional.
I know I must seem to be painting a negative picture of churches, but that is not my intention; I actually love churches. I don’t like all churches; some of the modern ones look stark and uninviting, but old churches are usually quite beautiful. In a similar way to how an attractive young female walking along the pavement can turn the heads of most men as they pass by, churches always capture my attention as I pass by, but my interest is probably more wholesome.
I find really old churches that stand in graveyards the most interesting. Especially when the graveyard is a bit neglected, and the gravestones lean in all directions. I’m not really interested in what is beneath the gravestones, just as I’m not interested in what might be happening inside the church; it’s just the look of it all that I like. The picture it makes.
As a teenager, I was given a book of “Grave Humour.” As in funny comments engraved on grave stones.
And locally we have a grave for a 1930’s parish priest, who was defrocked & ended up as a fairground side show. He sat in a lions cage & read the bible & when killed by the lion, he was buried in his old parish & even today someone locally maintains his grave.
Another church has the grave of a customs officer killed by smugglers.
yes he did! - I guess most of the churches would be Norman built heh? - good strong things that look solid and I do like the aged color of the brick probably lighter to start with? I also like the coolness always found inside and shadows. the graveyards always sadden me - often neglected by some and almost unreadable at times- they were sorta designed and used to be reflective places - not very noisy until the organ burst forth and the congregation also.
Another local graveyard that makes for an interesting story are the war graves at Great Bircham, which is on the edge of the Sandringham estate.
When the government decided to place an allied grave section there in 1940, it meant moving the grave of German Emil Rödel. But locals said no way. That is wrong. So the war graves at Great Bircham include the graves of 10 Luftwaffe airmen too.
At the church in the picture at the beginning of the thread, there is the grave of 3 victims of the Sheffield flood of 1864. Sheffield is 16 miles away, to give some idea of the power of the flood.
There are graveyards close to where I live and they all sit wonky and fallen like old stained teeth. Many are so old that the dates have been weathered off, but 1800’s is common. Also many parents lost so many children that they got buried in the same plot - within years of each other. The parents lived on until their 70’s or 80’s. Very odd. But I do like to read gravestones.
