Don't Blink!

We went for another walk on Saturday, Ian and I, he with his walking stick, me with my camera. This time we went for a mooch around Aldershot Military Cemetery which is situated pretty much right on our doorstep. Strangely, neither of us had ever been around it before so all the treasures we discovered were new to us both, which was nice.

The cemetery, which is still in use, first came into being in 1856 and is, to quote Wikipedia;

Aldershot Military Cemetery, is a burial ground for military personnel, or ex-military personnel. It is located in Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire. The Cemetery is also open for the interment of wives and families of all ranks, and for some civilians who have spent their life with the army.

I myself have family there - a great, great, grandmother - who died at a very young age from tuberculosis, leaving three young children at the mercy of an alcoholic step mother. Ironically the stepmother also died in her early 30's from the effects of alcohol poisoning, and, being the third wife of an enlisted army man (he got about a bit did great great grandad!) was also buried in the cemetery at Aldershot. I did try, but I could find neither grave as we wandered around the place on Saturday. I did find lots of other interesting ones to photograph though, such as this;


the final resting place of one William Loraine Geddes, of the 53rd Shropshire Regiment, only son of Colonel William Geddes C.B of the Bengal Artillery. I was really taken with the rusting ironwork hinges;


as was I by the stone masonry on this leaning oddity;


the top of which was adorned with four angelic faces, seemingly marking time in the winter sunshine;


Any clue as to what this stone totem represented was lost to me. As you can probably just make out the inscription for it was right at the top and very weathered making it indecipherable to me standing below.

Do you remember the stone angels in Dr Who? I had to try very hard not to blink as I walked past this particular statue;


There were other stone angels in the cemetery of course, but none quite creeped me out as much as this one!

Whilst the cemetery is kept in the kind of good order you'd expect with the military, a few of the headstones were showing signs of wear and tear, the heavy frosts we had last week perhaps responsible for damage like this;



and maybe a random lightning bolt struck this one;

............okay, maybe that was a bit fanciful of me, but you have to admit, my hammer horror style supposition does have a suitably gothic ring to it!

And so onto the simple headstone that brought a lump to my throat;


I was intrigued by the fact that someone was leaving flowers over a century after tragedy struck this particular family, but reading the headstone, I can perhaps understand why;


such a terrible misfortune to befall any family. (Click on the photo to read the headstone for yourself).

And last, but not least this;


which struck me as being quite modern in concept, despite it again being over a century old. Strangely, I've only just noticed that he died on my birthday....