Wednesday 26 November 2014

Cemetery Gates















♫ Keats & Yeats are on your side ♫

How many mothers do you know who take their kids to the cemetery on a Saturday afternoon? Well, now you do.  Regular readers of my erstwhile blog will be well aware of my documented love of graveyards.  For a while now I have been itching to explore this place.  Anfield Cemetery.  So Saturday afternoon armed with my new DSLR I took myself and the fam off to practice my shots and absorb the atmosphere.   Situated a stones throw from where I grew up  in a very well known area of Liverpool.  Anfield Cemetery is a fine example of Victorian municipal architecture.  One of 3 cemeteries commissioned by the Corporation of Liverpool to service the growing need for burial ground which was squeezing the town centre.  The first burial took place here in 1863.  A few months ago I attended this cemetery for the funeral of a family friend which reignited my interest in it.  I couldn't believe that this huge space so full of history was right on my doorstep for so long and I never appreciated it.  I never hung around after dark drinking cider and reading poetry on the gravestones.  I put this down to spending most of my adolescence barely moving from my bedroom and feeling no connection whatsoever to my surroundings.

But time heals and today I saw my old territory through different eyes.  I enjoyed being in this unusual location where the sense of quietude and space is palpable despite being right in the heart of the inner city.  Particularly impressive, minus the inane and barely literate graffiti, are the cemetery gates.  Solid and imposing in sandstone and wrought iron.  Shame I could only capture their splendour in vignettes as it was a match day and there were cars parked right up to the outer entrance.


8 comments:

  1. I love a big old cemetery, I do. Usually peaceful, and full of things growing and alive. Just look at those twisty trees! And a magnificent merman as well.

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  2. My love of Victorian cemeteries is well documented, so it will be no surprise to know that I love these photos, and completely understand your desire to visit, soak up the atmosphere, and take pics. The gates are amazing. I wonder what Little Belle's story could be? xxx

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  3. No love, its quite normal. My brother and I spent hours in cemeteries as kids!
    Gorgeous photos, I wonder if Little Belle was a pet? x

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  4. These photos are stunning, I've always loved the architecture and style of churchyards and graveyards alike, there's something oddly comforting about them and in the colder months they take on that stillness you've captured beautifully here. Love this post! - Tasha xxx

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  5. I like wandering around cemeteries too, although after a while of visiting them it starts to get to me, so I stop for a while. This place looks so interesting, those gates are impressive xxx

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  6. I love cemeteries. There was a huge gorgeous cemetery in a town I lived in years ago. It was so pretty it could have easily been a public park. I loved it so much, I had a Taco Bell picnic with a good guy friend there once. Soooo romantic. :D

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  7. I think cemeteries are beautiful - there was one we would always stroll around with my grandfather and walk the dog when I was little. This one looks particularly magical :-)

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