I’ve never had a problem with churchyards or cemeteries after dark, and a good job too, bearing in mind the rather late stop I made on this particular evening to snap a few shots of Catsfield war memorial. And look, another lych gate!
The memorial stands in the churchyard of St. Laurence Church.
Ah. Problem.
Solved.
Of course I put it back. How dare you even ask!
But did you attach the wire which I can clearly see in the first picture but not so clearly in the later one. That’s a very bright light you had with you it picked up details rather well, the memorial is looking rather the worse for wear, one wonders how long these will remain legible-some TLC wouldn’t go amiss. Why did you have to take the pictures in the dead of night?
I shall plead the Fifth Amendment on your first question. And I really cannot remember what on earth I was doing there at that time – it was a little while ago now.
The missus tells me it was when were in Rye in 2018, I think, so presumably we were heading back to the house we were staying in one night, and I spyed the church.
It’s certainly atmospheric! I do hope they’ve done something about the list of names on the memorial since your visit, wouldn’t take much for them to disappear altogether by the looks of it 🙁
You’re right. Atmospheric is the word.
Apologies for the advert/plea below but if anyone spots a war memorial – and there’s hundreds of different types including lists, windows, plaques, community halls etc – in the UK, why not check to see if it’s listed on the War Memorials Register webpages?
If not – or it’s listed but they haven’t got photos – then send your photos to the team. Details are below.
The site only records memorials (ie where the person named is not buried) and so CWGC graves and family graves where the named person is are not included. They also don’t record the CWGC Cross of Sacrifice monuments you see where there are dedicated CWGC cemeteries or plots.
But if you find a CWGC-type design that is a war town or village memorial then you’ve got a winner.
Like the photos here it’s a good idea to show the memorial in context and the inscription; that way a clear record can be gained.
It’s run by Imperial War Museums and the website is publicly accessible with the photos being available for anyone to use under a CC licence, and with the appropriate copyright notice; again details are on the WMR homepage at the link below.
The data entry stuff is done by volunteers based at IWM or doing so from home but anyone who is just out for a walk or a drive can send in pictures.
Details are at https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials
Oh, and although the site – together with IWM’s online Collections site – is currently (June 2023) having a major overhaul at the moment, it looks as if they still need pictures of the Catsfield memorial. See https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/16974