Many years before the city of Hull was built the village of Sculcoates huddled by the muddy flooded banks of the river Hull. The name, Sculcoates, comes, I've been told, from Skuli's Cottages; Skuli being a Viking who settled in these parts. Anyhow time passed and a church was built, St Mary's, with its attendant graveyard, is first mentioned in 1232 but it could be much older. The church was rebuilt in 1760 and done up again in 1875 at the cost of a £1000. A description of it reads "An arcade of four bays separates the nave from the aisles. The east window is filled ,with stained glass, representing the Crucifixion. In the chancel is a fine old brass chandelier of 16 lights, of the Queen Anne period." This church ran the old school I showed the other day. So why, you might ask, am I telling you all this instead of showing you a photo of it in all its glory? Well, sadly, the church was pulled down in 1916 and rebuilt somewhere else. So there's only the old graveyard left, stuck between the RE:group tanks and Bankside's passing traffic.
The magnificent tomb must be at least 10 feet tall, unfortunately I couldn't find any inscription on it but it shows the wealth that must have been around in what is now an uninhabited area.
Lovers of graveyards and tombs should head over to Taphophile Tragics.
Beautiful old graveyard.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely little graveyard, shame the name of those memorialised have been lost.
ReplyDeleteBeneath Thy Feet
Yes, that tomb aint going anywhere fast! It does appear to be rather solid. Although i would have liked to have seen the church, I am not sad that it has gone, leaving just the dead-folk with their memories. Off with all organised religion, says I.
ReplyDeleteI have found a couple of cemeteries in my local area that seem to have lost their reason for existence, and the local council has simply closed them up. It is not so much the fact of a cemetery that attracts me, but the history that it represents. With its age, your little cemetery is a corker!
Thanks, BB.
So is the graveyard still in 'use' and tended to? In Sweden they're becoming stricter that every grave has to have someone responsible for it (and paying for the care if you can't do it yourself) or else after a number of years they will be returned and 'recycled'.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's still in use but someone is cutting the grass and keeping it tidy. I don't who is responsible for it, either the Council or the parish.
DeleteI am wondering if there's a list of the names on the graves, as my mum's sure we have a relative buried there, which would either be a Bakes, Ellarby or Shearsmith!
ReplyDelete