Opulent Autumn Cemetery

You don't have to be a lover of graveyards to appreciate the glories of Spring Bank Cemetery. At this time of year it's looks spectacular.

The cemetery is on the Larkin Trail. Philip Larkin described it as the most beautiful place in Hull and for once I could almost agree. In defending the cemetery against "improvement" in the late 70s he said it was a "natural cathedral, an inimitable blended growth of nature and humanity of over a century; something that no other town could create whatever its resources". I  think he might just be guilty of exaggeration. 

Western Cemetery

The Western Cemetery is essentially an extension of the Spring Bank cemetery [1, 2] opened in 1889 and still in use. It is across the railway line from the site of Hull Fair which you can see in the background. Most of the early memorials are showing signs of aging except for this one to Zebedee Scaping. Who he? My searches show he was born in Eton then went to the Royal Hospital School which has connections with the Navy. Later he becomes the headmaster of Trinity House school in Hull, a position he held for fifty-five years and, as this monument says, is  known in "every port and on every sea". I've managed to find a photo of him here , he's the one with the beard. The memorial was restored and regilded a few years ago and looks as it must have done when new.

Zeb married Georgiana Harriette Fury in Dublin in 1859, his occupation as that time is described as "Esquire", those were the days, eh!. From census records I found they had a son, also called Zebedee, well it would have been a shame to lose such a fine name.

If you like wandering round cemeteries why not wander over to Taphophile Tragics and see what others have posted.

Autumn Cemetery

By Margot K Juby

 This angel is in Spring Bank cemetery, a wonderful place to wander through especially in Autumn.

Edward Booth, fireman

On our way through Spring Bank cemetery yesterday I came across this unique memorial which I hadn't noticed before. I think I might have remembered a steam train on a gravestone. Anyhow the web is a wonderful place and after two  little clicks it provided me with this site which tells you all you need to know about the sad demise in 1906 of young Edward Booth, fireman, in a rail accident and the subsequent improvements in rail safety that followed. Thanks for this work must go to the Friends of Hull General Cemetery and to W.P. Everingham & Sons Ltd, a local firm of monumental masons.

Margot took the close up.

A green path

This is one of the paths through Spring Bank cemetery, the eastern end that's no longer used. The trees are doing their yearly trick of looking new. 

A lost necropolis

They say there is no returning from the grave but that does not stop me returning to Spring Bank Cemetery with a couple of shots of its leafy summer splendour and Victorian taphophilic excess.

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

Final resting place

Usually fly tippers choose a secluded spot, a back alley or a country lane say. The depositors of this unwanted bed chose the entrance to Spring Bank cemetery on one of the busiest roads in town. Is rubbish dumping at long last coming out of the closet and into the mainstream?

Memento mori

The Victorians seemed to have far grander funereal monuments than is the style these days. This fine angel stands in Spring Bank cemetery and is one of only a few to have survived the ravages of vandals and the Council's strange desire to flatten grave stones on grounds of "health and safety".

Eleanor Crosses

Spring Bank cemetery has two of these Gothic iron Eleanor Cross style monuments. They are nearly identical. The left hand one is a listed monument  and both were repaired in the mid 1990's when a newspaper from 1868 was found in one of them. Originally they would have had some glazing and a funerary urn positioned within. Of course when new there were no trees and the place would have been kept clear and well maintained.

Young Crow

Margot took these a few years ago in Spring Bank cemetery..

Angelic

Spring Bank Cemetery has a few angel tombstones, sadly many of them have been damaged by the elements or plain old vandalism. This one seems intact. It is the grave of one Wilfred Jessop (d 1930), his wife Isabella Maud (d 1924) and his mother-in-law, Jane Hooper (d 1914). I can find nothing about these people but I'm assuming they had money, monuments like this were not and are not cheap.

There similar posts over at Taphophile Tragics.

The Great Visitation of Cholera

 Lost in the wonderfully overgrown Spring Bank cemetery is this slightly leaning monument to a disastrous cholera outbreak in Hull in 1849. The plaque below gives the chilling numbers of dead; we can only imagine the horrors of those days. Nowadays with our clean drinking water and improved sanitation cholera is practically unknown in the UK but it stills kills over 100,000 mainly in the developing world.

Stand out from the rest

Hull's expansion at the end of the 19^th century led to the development of Spring Bank West. It was formerly known as Derringham Bank and already had the General & Western cemeteries along its northern side. SBW eventually spread out to the far western edges of the city and is now a major commuting route with thousands of vehicles passing along it every day. The houses at the Eastern end are basically  long terraces of late Victorian/Edwardian houses all pretty much the same. About half way down this section of the road this little end terrace house stands out from the crowd with its circular turret surmounted by a fine weather vane. No matter how fine the windows, however, the view from them is the same, the cemetery .... and traffic.

Funerary Angel

It's been a while since I posted anything for the taphophiles amongst you. Here is the final resting place of one William Henry Smith who died in 1900 aged 48. This angel in Spring Bank General Cemetery has featured before a few years ago in a rear view here.

The weekend in black and white is here.

Weeping Ash

Fraxinus excelsior (Pendula)

Coming up to June and every other tree and bush has been busy getting out the greenery whilst the ash seems to be still asleep with barely a bud showing. This fine specimen is on the corner of Spring Bank west and Chanterlands Avenue, in the cemetery as you can see.

The weekend in black and white is here.

Sarcophagus

The General Cemetery on Spring Bank was started in the 1840s and was a well laid and ordered place with well kept paths and cleared spaces. Now its filled with matured trees and it's just a place to walk the dog and for other less salubrious activities. You can still come across stunning examples of the Victorian near obsession with mourning and funerary monuments. It is difficult now to see quite what the purpose of this massive marble sarcophagus might be. Here it stands slowly eroding and being swallowed up by ivy.