May 26, 201610 yr Thanks Merc.......... http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/northumberland/west+bedlington#.V0cYRjdri01
May 26, 201610 yr Wow! I'm impressed that we have so many. A few photos of the gravestones would be appreciated if anybody has the time.
June 1, 201610 yr Canny Lass I'm interested in the headstones also, I'll set aside some time and try and take some pictures.
June 1, 201610 yr That would be great! I'm particularly interested in the Hedley gravestone - my mother's side of the family.
June 1, 201610 yr Sorry Canny Lass but the oldest gravestones are weather damaged. I have a few pictures taken today. If the Grade 11 listing means anything then they are in need of restoration. Instead more and more are simply knocked over as dangerous.
June 1, 201610 yr 2 hours ago, Maggie/915 said: If the Grade 11 listing means anything then they are in need of restoration. Instead more and more are simply knocked over as dangerous. A Grade 2 listing actually means that the state wants it preserved, but hasn't any money to do this; so... it tries hard to push the responsibility on to the legal owner. Believe me, I KNOW!
June 1, 201610 yr Where headstones are concerned the responsibility is always with the legal owner. With those of this age determining such could be difficult.
June 1, 201610 yr Even if they are traced (and compos) the old you can take a horse to water adage still applies. Grade 2 is actually a cop out!
June 3, 201610 yr Hi Maggie!,I took photo's of the first one in your set,[the skull etc..],when my Girl-Friend,[now my Wife of 50 years next year!!]...gave me my first camera,a Halina 35X [35mm],in the year 1963-ish! Between then and now,I can see how much that headstone has weathered,and deteriorated. It was always going to be old,[1790..I think],but it was definately in better condition then...there wasn't as much pollution,acid rain etc,in the years before! We kids used to look at these stones and wondered why on earth somebody would want a skull and [what we were told!], were "Werewolves" at each side [!],put on thier Headstone!,I later learned that the figures were ,in fact, Gargoyles![to keep evil spirits away from the deceased!] If I can find them,I will post them,only for comparison!
July 14, 20169 yr At the moment I'm looking into the tunnels that run under Bedlington. I'm also interested in St Cuthberts church. My family were Hedleys too. I'm hoping to get over to St Cuthberts soon and take some photos.
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