Atmospheric cemeteries … in Durham, England

I’ve already written about the northern English historic town of Durham. I enjoyed visiting this interesting town close to the Scottish border.

I’ve already written about the Durham cathedral, climbing its belltower and walking around the historic center.

When I was walking back and forth between town and the Historical Novel Society Conference at the Durham University main campus, I passed by this atmospheric church and graveyard each day.

On my last day, I decided to stop by to explore this picturesque graveyard.

I’ve always had a fascination with cemeteries. Growing up outside of Boston, we used to have then pilgrim cemeteries, and as a child I would love to visit them and read the gravestones, fascinated by how young so many of the people were when they died, how many women died in childbirth, how they were buried among the many infants to whom they’d given birth and who rarely made it beyond the toddler years.

So perhaps it’s not surprising I would go on to study history or become a fiction writer – bringing to the page those lives I imagined.

Perhaps it’s inevitable I was drawn to an old, historic graveyard during my visit. And nothing screams “old, historic graveyard” more than a British graveyard, with its damp and atmospheric graveyard, its cool grey stones with the backdrop of a cool, grey church and belltower, and its weathered graves telling the story of those who lived and loved centuries before we found ourselves here.

So many of the grave engravings have been lost to the ravages of time, but others were still legible – and always help spark a writer’s imagination.

How about you, fellow writers and readers? Are you fascinated by atmospheric graveyards and all the stories they tell?