Backstage

Bingley. W. Yorks. UK.

I suppose a cemetery is a kind of backstage car park ...... with a one way ticket.

There is a small cemetery of about 50 graves opposite All Saints Church in Bingley which is just yards from the town centre and very near to a number of pubs and restaurants - right on the high street. In fact, the very popular Bingley Sharma curry house overlooks it. The cemetery is sandwiched between industrial units - an engineer and tyre fitter on one side and a plumber on the other & at the back a plastics factory. It was totally overgrown for many years and was only recently cleared and opened for access. Much modern detritus accumulates here.

One steps down about 10 steps from the level of the pavement into another world. The stones are beautifully carved, the surface and detail looking as if only a few weeks has passed instead of the 180 odd years. Often, the huge stone carries only one inscription with much space below left for followers. Many stones lie horizontal, I think as it was thought less ostentatious.

The age of many of the inhabitants is shocking by today's standards. The stone in the foreground in this photo carries 4 names, their age at their deaths as follows:

3 Months
9 Months
2 Years 6 Months
18 Years

I assume they died of poverty.

It is strange and affecting to move around on this lower level as worlds and time collide. More than anything I was struck by the lettering from both eras which seem to embody the contrasts and shifts in a literally and figuratively graphic fashion.