Cemetery Archives: Ashford Cemetery

There were fashions to be seen in cemeteries. Perhaps it was that a local mason has turned out a particularly good line in angels, or that a rare shade of pink granite was spotted by mourners and "one like that" requested. It's hard to say, nowadays, when there is so little alternative to the granite, gold-scribed slab.

And yet in Ashford Cemetery, something like the old cemetery spirit survives. Everyone here is not, for once, reduced to uniformity by Council regulations. The predominant fashion at Ashford is for very large, curbed slabs of polished stone, with huge vases of silk flowers at each corner, and much room for poetry and separate memorials from members of the family ("To a beloved sister", "We love you, Nan"). Best of all are the representations of the deceased's special interests: a pigeon fancier's bird on a flower vase, a van entering through the Pearly Gates. It's brash, and almost tasteless, and I absolutely loved it.