 Reference to songs and poems on headstone do bring a smile to this face when strolling through graveyards. At St Catwg’s Graveyard in Cadoxton, the smile was even great than normal. As they say in these parts, Fair Bowls to Wyndham John Rees – to have Kept on Rockin’ at age 79.
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It is possibly a consequence of cricket not being a very popular game in these parts, but upto a few weeks ago I had never seen a cricketing reference on a headstone. That was changed at St Catwg’s Graveyard in Cadoxton near Neath.  St Catwg's Graveyard, Cadoxton, Wales
A trip to Thurles is on my TO VISIT list to see a headstone erected by the Great Southern & Western Railway Cricket Club. For me, upto very recently there was absolutely no question. ‘Reunited’ would have been what I would have written – and I would not have even slightly considered an alternative. Visits to a few cemeteries in South Wales have caused me to consider an alternative. Merriam-Webster prefers REUNITE as does Chambers Dictionary and Collins Dictionary. As to why RE-UNITED exists on headstones is one for my TO FIND OUT MIORE list  Simon Community Plot, St. Finbvarr's Cemetery. Cork I was taken aback by this grave a few weeks ago when visiting St Finbarr’s cemetery – no names, just the numbers one to forty-nine. The Cork Simon Community is a charity assisting the homeless. Maybe names are not listed so as to avoid connecting those buried with the charity’s assistance and the possible social stigma of having been reliant on a homeless charity – if so, this appears a modern trend as the former residents of St Vincent’s Hostel and of St. Vincent’s on Peacock Lane are named. If this is the case, I would have thought it better to name the deceased and remove the name of the charity. Maybe the numbers are temporary – to be replaced by names as ashes are added. I would like to think so but am a bit doubtful. I read Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World as a teenager. It is probably the book that has remained with me the strongest. Reducing someone to just a number without a name is far from progress. The BBC Open Country programme on the Bath Workhouse Burial Ground where the names of the dead are read aloud resonates much more as a world that I would prefer. So too did the Twitter account, Tuam Babies Names, where the names and ages of the infants and children who died there were published. Both reflect my preferred type of society. 
 It was on a lovely morning at the start of October that I first encountered the name Justly. Thomas Justly Green Chatterton died over 130 years ago – he died on 25th May, 1884. He rests in St Finbarr’s Cemetery in a prominent corner plot with a broken column. A few days later I read on Bluesky of Virtue Names , including Patience, Felicity and Mercy – a tradition started by the Puritans. One website has ten pages of Virtue names. Justly does not appear on this list but Just does. Times were different. Hindsight provides a wider angle but to me, Justly would not be near top of the list of possible names.
Just  Today is Day 4 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is language. This headstone in St. Finbarr’s Cemetery has I think the only Welsh that I have seen written anywhere in Ireland. John Roberts, son of Ellis & Ann, a seafaring man from Porthmadog, drowned when at sea 150 years ago this month
EP SERCHUS  This blogpost has only been over eight years in the making. In the Summer of 2017, I visited the four cemeteries in an around Ballymacelligott in Co. Kerry. The most difficult one for me to find was Ó Bhreanáin / O’Brennan Burial Ground. It was there that I spotted this tomb structure. The Status of Children Act of 1987 abolished child illegitimacy. The Legitimacy Act, 1931 had provided that one might become a legitimated person if one’s parents had been entitled to marry at time of the birth and subsequently did so – a retrospective erasure of a societal stain. I was surprised when I read the restrictions imposed for future residents of this cemetery plot – I have not seen anything similar in the many graveyard strolls in the intervening years. Today, third of October, is Day 3 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is ‘Tomb’ – an encouragement to get this blog post eventually written.   There are a few paintings by Maurice Henderson hanging on our walls. I recently purchased one at auction – primarily because it was very similar to one that hung on our walls. Last Friday, ‘Inlet’ replaced ‘Blue Harbour’ on the wall in our hall. To date, only me and those reading this blog post realise that there has been a switch.
Today, the first of October is Day 1 of 31 Days of Graves. The prompt is ‘FLOWER’’ and my offering is the headstone to Maurice Henderson Fry in St Patrick’s Cemetery in Coronea, Skibbereen. On the paintings on our walls, the signature is Maurice and the date. On a number of visits since 2023, I have yet to find a name on initial of the stone carver on the headstone. One can never predict the thoughts and ideas that will be prompted from headstones encounted …….  Yesterday’s early morning me-time was taken at St Finbarr’s Cemetery. At the back of Section G, I was thinking of Charles Dickens – I suspect that I have not thought of him when in a cemetery before. But is he the reason that Ebenezer is no longer a popular name for babies????
Who was last member of the Rhossili Coastguard who attended the rescue of 11 people from the Roche Castle in 1937 The language and grammar on headstones are not always precise and exact.  Shepherd headstone at St Mary the Virgin graveyard, Rhossili, Wales
 “The Board of Trade’s shield for the “best wreck service of the year” was awarded to the Rhossili Company for the rescue on the night of the 10th January, 1937 of ten of the crew of the trawler Roche Castle, which went ashore on the rocky Gower coast, about twelve miles from Swansea.” My assumption is that Raymond Hussey Shepherd was the ‘last member of the Rhossili Coastguard who attended the rescue of 11 people from the Roche Castle in 1937”.
If the footnote was carved when there was only one name on the headstone, there would have been clear and obvious as to who was the last surviving member of the coastguard. If the footnote was added with the second name, Christopher, my assumption is that the footnote would have so clarified – but assumptions are not always correct. The Roche Castle has gone on the TO FIND OUT MORE list as so far have had limited success.  I have often asked the question – is that with a PH or a V?
The reply then received from a Stephen or a Steven. Upto my visit to Shanrahan Cemetery, I had not ever contemplated a spelling of SHTEPHEN. It may be an engraving error but maybe in the 1770’s that was the spelling……..  Shanrahan Cemetery. Co. Tipperary Neil Greene was the husband of Margaret Green I am assuming the addition or addition of the third E is an engraving error but there could be another explanation. It does appear like a missing E.
 My father died nearer three than two years ago. His name is yet to appear on the headstone – his children not being any way as organised as he was. He had the headstone engraved with my mother’s name within weeks of her burial. The headstone had been erected many years before awaiting the first death, prepared like the good scout. I did not know of the engraving in advance of my visit to the grave. His efficiency did not surprise but to see the name engraved in stone was a new sensation. My visit that day was significantly longer than normal. I would definitely have preferred hand carved lettering rather than a machine. I might have opted for a different font and different wording. It is more than seven years since the stone was carved. I have stood in front of it many times and have not resolved the issue that cannot be unseen. Since first communicated to me by a consultant neurologist many years ago, I have often resorted to the expression – ‘That is just the way that I am wired’. My parents, better than most, knew of my particular wiring. My father did not see any issue with the wording on the headstone but I immediately saw, and could not unsee, the missing acute accent on NEE. I am sometimes tempted to have it added when my father’s name is carved – I have spotted similar corrections. But it will probably remain as it is currently written – a reminder to this reader that sometimes, just let things go.  On Wednesday morning, I travelled to the graveyard of St. Mary the Virgin at Rhossili to visit the memorial at Sailor’s Corner. I was struck by the coffin shaped stones placed on a number of the graves. I could not recall seeing such stones before and planned to go through the older cemetery photographs to check if I had actually seen before. A post on Bluesky this morning from Louvain Rees included a selection of cast iron at St. Mary’s Church in Whitechurch and it includes a surround in the shape of a coffin. Was this a thing? Was this just a Welsh thing? My TO FIND OUT MORE list is getting longer……. |
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