church, Robyn started seeing dates from the 1800s.
Lots of the names that she now recognised, Rowe and Yelland stuck out immediately as the names of the Head Teacher and a pupil from one of
her classes. Many generations of local families had been interred in the
churchyard and judging by the comparability of the names with those on her
class registers, many descendants of these people still lived locally. It
was quite nice to think that the community had such deep roots, especially as
she wanted to plant some of her own.
When
she found a stone from the 1850s, Robyn noticed a change in the
inscriptions. The carvings were not so old and were therefore easier to
read, but her curiosity still had her crouching in front of a large rectangular
slab that was entirely plain and undecorated, except for a three inch diameter
circle at the top. Putting her hand out and feeling the indentations like
Braille, Robyn read the names on the stone. Father, Mother, Grandmother
and three children were all listed on the particular stone.
Robyn
knew of family plots, where, as members of the same family died they were added
to the stone but all these people had died on the same date. She wondered
what could have happened to them; fire, disease, or accident? What
tragedy befell this family all those years ago?
The
next stone had fallen but the writing was face up. This one had two
names, husband and wife but there were no dates as the break in the stone had
cut them off. Feeling the sorrow of the place, Robyn looked around for
more.
Moving
around the yard, Robyn took in everything that the stones had to offer.
A
Celtic cross monument listed four names, all the same family and all died on
the same date in 1877. An intricate three sided spiral design enclosed in
a circle had been carved carefully in the centre of the cross but there was
little other detail.
She
discovered three more markers representing events that had wiped out
families. The dates varied from the 1840s to the early 1900s. She
didn’t know if there were any more, as many of the stones were either too
damaged, too eroded, or they had fallen face down, but they had her intrigued
enough the go back around the small churchyard and have a second look at the
five graves that depicted tragedy.
On
closer inspection, Robyn noticed that the small three spiralled symbol was
carved on all of those peculiar stones except the first, which only had the
circle. Sometimes the symbol was carved deeply, etched cleanly and easy
to spot, but sometimes it was seemingly scratched on, as if an afterthought,
making it difficult to see.
Other
stones had the symbol too, stones with only one occupant and stones that she
could not read.
The
latest dated stone in the graveyard was 1942. Where had the dead been
buried since?
With
nothing more to see, Robyn headed to the beach, moved some pebbles to make a
flatter surface to sit on and sat pondering. She thought of the families
that had perished and felt sad, especially for the young children who hadn’t
really started life before it was snatched away from them. She thought of
explanations for the deaths, but couldn’t think of many disease outbreaks or
anything else that would explain the mystery. Robyn was pretty certain
that there hadn’t been outbreaks of plague between 1800 and 1900 but her
knowledge of flu outbreaks centred only on the one during the First World
War. She thought of the industrial revolution and accidents. Would
children have been working then? Would children have been mining then? Cornwall
was famous for its tin mines and they had been open throughout all of that
time.
Fire
was an obvious choice. With no fire brigades and houses containing
substantial amounts of timber in their construction, fire would have ravaged
them in minutes. Small windows, cramped tight staircases and no alarms
meant that if fire broke out, especially at night, it could very well claim
live, many
Lots of the names that she now recognised, Rowe and Yelland stuck out immediately as the names of the Head Teacher and a pupil from one of
her classes. Many generations of local families had been interred in the
churchyard and judging by the comparability of the names with those on her
class registers, many descendants of these people still lived locally. It
was quite nice to think that the community had such deep roots, especially as
she wanted to plant some of her own.
When
she found a stone from the 1850s, Robyn noticed a change in the
inscriptions. The carvings were not so old and were therefore easier to
read, but her curiosity still had her crouching in front of a large rectangular
slab that was entirely plain and undecorated, except for a three inch diameter
circle at the top. Putting her hand out and feeling the indentations like
Braille, Robyn read the names on the stone. Father, Mother, Grandmother
and three children were all listed on the particular stone.
Robyn
knew of family plots, where, as members of the same family died they were added
to the stone but all these people had died on the same date. She wondered
what could have happened to them; fire, disease, or accident? What
tragedy befell this family all those years ago?
The
next stone had fallen but the writing was face up. This one had two
names, husband and wife but there were no dates as the break in the stone had
cut them off. Feeling the sorrow of the place, Robyn looked around for
more.
Moving
around the yard, Robyn took in everything that the stones had to offer.
A
Celtic cross monument listed four names, all the same family and all died on
the same date in 1877. An intricate three sided spiral design enclosed in
a circle had been carved carefully in the centre of the cross but there was
little other detail.
She
discovered three more markers representing events that had wiped out
families. The dates varied from the 1840s to the early 1900s. She
didn’t know if there were any more, as many of the stones were either too
damaged, too eroded, or they had fallen face down, but they had her intrigued
enough the go back around the small churchyard and have a second look at the
five graves that depicted tragedy.
On
closer inspection, Robyn noticed that the small three spiralled symbol was
carved on all of those peculiar stones except the first, which only had the
circle. Sometimes the symbol was carved deeply, etched cleanly and easy
to spot, but sometimes it was seemingly scratched on, as if an afterthought,
making it difficult to see.
Other
stones had the symbol too, stones with only one occupant and stones that she
could not read.
The
latest dated stone in the graveyard was 1942. Where had the dead been
buried since?
With
nothing more to see, Robyn headed to the beach, moved some pebbles to make a
flatter surface to sit on and sat pondering. She thought of the families
that had perished and felt sad, especially for the young children who hadn’t
really started life before it was snatched away from them. She thought of
explanations for the deaths, but couldn’t think of many disease outbreaks or
anything else that would explain the mystery. Robyn was pretty certain
that there hadn’t been outbreaks of plague between 1800 and 1900 but her
knowledge of flu outbreaks centred only on the one during the First World
War. She thought of the industrial revolution and accidents. Would
children have been working then? Would children have been mining then? Cornwall
was famous for its tin mines and they had been open throughout all of that
time.
Fire
was an obvious choice. With no fire brigades and houses containing
substantial amounts of timber in their construction, fire would have ravaged
them in minutes. Small windows, cramped tight staircases and no alarms
meant that if fire broke out, especially at night, it could very well claim
live, many
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