The Dead Centre of my Bike Ride

I am trying to regularly exercise and today I decided to go out on my bike. I didn't want a set route, but the opportunity to explore, cruising the roads and lanes around where I live. I love to take in the surrounding countryside, notice the wildlife, gawp at the houses and cottages...it is a great way of finding out more about the area around me plus I am just generally nosey!

Today, I passed by a church. Well I didn't pass by, as I decided to stop and photograph it (see attached photo). It was a warm afternoon, I was glad of a chance to pause, and was quite taken by the numerous headstones surrounding the wee place. Infact, I was tempted to go in and wander round but as the gate was shut and we are in the middle of a pandemic, I erred on the side of caution.

I quite like a good cemetery to explore. On a girls weekend in Warsaw, not realising how big the cemetery was, we nearly got shut in at the end of the day! Last year, I spent ages wandering round the beautiful grave stones in Samarkand (I was only on a short cut through to the town!), and in Pune I visited the local cemetery, reading the inscriptions of folk buried far from home, as research for my talk on the Raj. There is so much that you see in a cemetery. I am fascinated that Jewish headstones often contain piles of stones, a physical way to honour the deceased (a 'mitzvah'). In Mexico, for day of the dead, the cemetery becomes a hive of activity  with mariachi bands, and family picnics on the highly decorated graves. On a visit to Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin, I joined a tour in the graveyard to find out more about those connected with the 1916 Easter Rising. Fascinating stuff.

But, of course, cemeteries can be great cross-curricular resources for schools and universities. 'Dead Good Maths' from a resource produced by one UK cemetery, encourages students to study the ages on the headstones. Whether geography or poetry, they are fabulous places to make subjects more interesting, and find out about people from the past. Which was why I really wanted to explore the graveyard round Kirklinton Church. Those headstones looked like that had some brilliant stories to tell. I'll definately go back to read those inscriptions, and find out who lies beneath the soil around that little place of workship...