Colin Fenn telling tales of burial grounds, cemeteries & Victorian sanitation. Historian, protector & promoter of cemeteries, volunteering & friends groups.
Malvern & London
Joined December 2018
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Inconvenient Dead retweeted
We are pleased to announce we have access to our account back after it was hacked last month. Apologies to our followers for the rude interruption and thanks to those who’ve stuck with us! The Friends’ AGM takes place this coming Saturday 24 October, 2PM-4:30PM at the cemetery.
Inconvenient Dead retweeted
Kensal Green Cemetery in London is the burial place of hundreds of famous Victorian figures including Isambard Kingdom Brunel, William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins and Harold Pinter. It is under threat from developers bit.ly/4rtv0ZE say local campaigners
The Five Ashes Baptist Burial Ground at Odcombe in Somerset is up for sale...
Have the Baptists given up their responsibilities?
somersetcountygazette.co.uk/…
#31DaysOfGraves 16 Obelisk
Robert Owen's cenotaph at Kensal Green @Magnificent1of7. He established New Lanark mill (now a World Heritage Site).
Next to the Reformers' Memorial "to the memory of the men & women who ... improve the conditions & enlarge the happiness of all classes"
#31DaysOfGraves 15 Damaged
It was a dark & stormy night in the 1980s when a lightning strike blasted away the canopy of the Moffat tomb at Norwood @fownc1837
#31DaysOfGraves 14 Inside
Birmingham's Picadilly Arcade has some amazing ceilings: views out from inside the grave!
#31DaysOfGraves 13 Skeleton
The business card of Nathaniel Longbottom of Southwark, dealer in "skeletons of different sizes & both sexes".
Makes you wonder where he got a reliable supply of cadavers from?
[Wellcome collection]
#31daysofgraves 12 Woman
Emma Soyer, artist & recent subject of BBC's @FakeorFortune1. She was the wife of celebrity chef Alexis Soyer. Her monument stands tall & proud inside Kensal Green Cemetery @Magnificent1of7, looking out at the traffic on Harrow Road
#31daysofgraves 11 Military
The catcomb of Admiral Young in @fownc1837. He lays opposite the catafalque (the lift to the demolished chapel above.)
Vice Admiral of the Blue, he was "distinguished not less for zeal, ability & courteousness in the discharge of his public duties"
#31DaysOfGraves 10 urn
At @fownc1837 is the grave of Capt Lindow, 17th Lancers "Death or Glory boys". His cremation was the 16th in England & flames erupt from his memorial urn. The plinth states "cremated by his own desire", underscoring his innovative funeral.
#31DaysOfGraves 9: hand
Battersea cemetery has a painted headstone with an unusual variation on the typical handshake, "well met in death": here the hand is pulled away, leaving her widower behind.
#31DaysOfGraves, 8 Glass
The toppled memorial at Malvern of Edward Chance of Chance Brothers, the great Victorian glass manufacturer. They made Crystal Palace's glass & Big Ben's clockface. Edward ran the alkaline works, a horrendous process. Like his workers, he too died early.
Inconvenient Dead retweeted
The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis have been shortlisted for the Glasgow Times Community Champion Awards 2025 Green Champion of the Year
Can we please ask that you vote for us as your Green Champion of the Year. Voting closes on 19th October 2025
tinyurl.com/bdkp73n3
Thanks
Make sure you don't miss out! glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/2550…
Day 7 of #31DaysOfGraves : Angels
This angel has to be my favourite: signed by
Giddings from the Pulham architectural terracotta works, at Hoddesdon cemetery. She has the perfect pose, looking down on the Roberts family plot, clutching a wreath. (See my profile)
Day 4 of #31daysofgraves Languages
This Celtic Cross in Bradford intrigues me. Running down the sides of the cross are what appears to be runes. Can anyone decipher this?
3rd #31daysofgraves is "tomb",
But when is a tomb, not a tomb - When its been destroyed? These ghosts of tombstones past were part of an art trail in Norwood Cemetery to record the demolition of many memorials
