Grave Depths (into which I've sunk)

[Keith Sherwood]

Guy,
And I do love to read around for insight into the background and conditions my ancestors lived in.  I know that Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is a popular poem (came 12th in a poll in "The Nation's Favourite Poems" a few years ago), but I particularly like the sentiments written in it; and like to sit and ponder our mortality in churchyards that have family significance...
Keith

[Guy Etchells]

Guy,
And I do love to read around for insight into the background and conditions my ancestors lived in.  I know that Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is a popular poem (came 12th in a poll in "The Nation's Favourite Poems" a few years ago), but I particularly like the sentiments written in it; and like to sit and ponder our mortality in churchyards that have family significance...
Keith

Anyone wishing to read that thought provoking poem can find it here
http://www.bartleby.com/101/453.html
Cheers
Guy

[kerryb]

Great poem!

I've always found if you sit quietly contemplating in a country (or come to that town) graveyard, it's amazing what wildlife you can see.  I think that's why I would agree with you Guy about graveyards being tranquil.

Kerry

[Keith Sherwood]

Guy,
Well done for putting the whole poem on here!  It's amazing how many of the lines and phrases in it are often quoted today, slipping easily off the tongue, like slogans, almost:
..."Let not ambition mock their useful toil...", and..."The paths of glory lead but to the grave..."  to mention but a couple.
Keith

[kerryb]

Yes and I presume Thomas Hardy had read it:

Far from the Madding Crowd's ignoble strife...

Kerry

[Guy Etchells]

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[pinefamily]

Regarding graves and water levels, I believe there were some problems in Weston-Super-Mare with rising water bringing some coffins in the cemetery back to the surface at one point.
Darren

[davierj]

On a question of depth I noted in one grave in Aberystwyth that the 1st burial was at 10 feet, 12 years later the 2nd (day old baby) was 5 feet, 20 years after that the 3rd was at 7feet 6inches and finally 17 years later at 5feet 6inches.   The burials covered a period of time from 1932 until 1981.

As an afterthought, I remember an old gravedigger telling me how he could tell if there was enough room left in a grave.   He said he would push a steel rod down through the earth and when he heard a squeal that was the depth he had left..................

Dave

[Redroger]

The practice of burials in a coffin was a progression from the use of a parish coffin, the body being transported in the coffin to the graveside, where the body was removed and lowered into the grave.

What a brilliant idea, especially with cremations, what chance of getting the practice re-introduced, cutting costs of funerals and saving resources?