Deadman in cemetery

I'm afraid I'm one of those who find cemeteries, especially older ones, endlessly entertaining.
Where else could one's sense of irony be reinforced - by finding the grave of Mr Deadman?

Mr Deadman's angel-monument in Rugeley Cemetery is curiously old-fashioned  - you'd have thought it was a late nineteenth century piece, not one made in 1944, which is when Mr Deadman died.

Parliament's gift

You'll find this little angel just outside the main door of Pattingham Church.  It's not a very distinguished piece, but it does have an inscription on its base: "From the Houses of Parliament. Presented by Mr Geoffrey Max... MP 1934"
But... what is doing out there on its own?  Why is this 'special gift' not carefully mounted inside the church itself?

Hmm. I have a theory.
It's not a very good sculpture. so I suspect that the church wardens were not terrifically pleased to be given it.  What to do with it? - they thought.         Answer: ... oh, just stick it outside, up against a wall!
It's just a theory - but I like it.  Seems to fit the facts...

Watching the gravestone

This graveyard angel is different to most in that, instead of standing above the grave, it is attached to and looking at the gravestone itself. 
It's worn, but it still has a strange, morbid fascination to it.
You'll find it at Great Haywood.

Seighford angel flies

This grave angel appears about to fly; it really is a fine piece of stonework. Yet, however fine, it is sited unregarded in an isolated country churchyard at Seighford.
She stands over the last resting-place of the exotically-named Edwin von Schmidt-Secharau, who died in 1903.

Great artist - small church

This is as beautiful a piece of Victorian stained-glass as you'll find anywhere. The artist is Edward Burne-Jones, the great Pre-Raphaelite painter.  When the sun shines through it, I could look at it for hours.
I am continually stunned how much work of great beauty is hidden away in our country churches.

Ingestre Church - where you'll find this window - is however more famous for its architecture and its church furniture.     It's seventeenth cenury, and (supposedly) was designed by Christopher Wren.

The friends of the church do a great job in raising funds to maintain it - and to keep it open for the public to look round.

Reflective angel in Aston

On a sunny day graveyards are simply calm and quietly reflective places - spots to sit and ponder the environment around one.  I have even seen people having picnics in them on such days - though that did seem odd, even to me.

When they are slightly overgrown in parts too, as in Aston churchyard, that adds to their charm.
Well, I think so.

This post was featured on the Cemetery Sunday website