Outside, in the churchyard, I spy a CWGC headstone dead, if you’ll excuse me, ahead of us.
It’s interesting to note that the CWGC headstone is actually a fairly recent addition to this grave; the red writing on this GRRF is dated March 2001 (now you know that these old forms are still updated in modern times should changes occur),…
…as is this schedule for the erection of the CWGC headstone.
Doesn’t look great after only twenty years, but presumably a good clean would do the trick.
Behind, this headstone includes a memorial to Petty Officer Stoker Walter John Penygate,…
…killed in action on 31st May 1916 aged 29 when H.M.S. Invincible (pristine, inset left, exploding, main picture, & sinking, inset right) was sunk with the loss of 1,026 officers & men during the Battle of Jutland; there were just six survivors.
Private William Snelling, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), aged 40, was killed in action on 8th August 1917, his body lost, his name now to be found on the Menin Gate Memorial.
My dad was a Merchant seaman. My mum chose that passage from Bible for his funerl -about those who go to the sea. Poignant for me.
Interested yo read about CWGC updates though. Blessings this Easter
Poignant indeed. Likewise Morag.
The church doesn’t have the look of an ancient building. Except for the steepness of the roof. I wonder if it has been refurbished, or is it a newer building replacing an older one ?
Grayswood parish was only created in the 1890s and they needed a church, so turn of the century. That’s the 19th century…..