It's sunk into a pit at the back of St Saviour's Church in Aston-by-Stone village, and even climbing down into the pit, to try to gain access to its door, is pretty difficult now (as you can see!).
Even though it's a listed building, now a 150 years old, it is showing signs of collapse too.
The whole churchyard at St Saviour's is littered with the graves of members of the Parker-Jervis line, which owned the adjacent Aston Hall too.
Link: Parker-Jervis Family Vault
This also reminds me of 'Ozymandias' as well.
ReplyDeleteShame that it has been left to get into such a state, what with it being listed too. great picture.
ReplyDeleteBeneath Thy Feet
Maybe, did the parker-Jervis line die out, with all the members littering the unkempt graveyard?
ReplyDeleteIt's a good question! The family was still very important in the late nineteenth century, but I need to find out more about them. I'm not even sure if they live at Aston Hall any more.
DeleteHah, hamilton beat me to the punch! I was figuring the line died out too, otherwise more would have been interred and more care would have been taken. The hassle is that some countries have SO much old stuff, they have to choose what to maintain. It might only be another 50 years and the jungle will have reclaimed all of this. As is its want ...
ReplyDeleteNow to go back and comment on last week's contribution. I had a look at it, but got side-tracked before commenting.
Yes, here in Staffordshire, there are hundreds of listed structures. Even as a lover of history myself - and very happy to see great things preserved - I think that that number is too much. It also weighs on the owners, who have to maintain them (!), very heavily.
DeleteThere's nothing distinguished/beautiful/important (I think) about the Parker-Jervis mausoleum, so I personally wouldn't have applied to have it listed.
yes, just because something is old does not make it necessarily heritage listing important.
ReplyDeletestill, I think all graveyards should have a gardener or maintenance person on hand to keep these overgrowing vines and weeds at bay.