About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Sunday, August 07, 2016

E is for EGTON

EGTON is a small, picturesque expanse in North Yorkshire, high on the moors near Whitby (famous for its Abbey) and has a most enchanting ambience.  You can see how the wind whips through the area from the way the tall grasses are permanently bent in one direction.  The Mortuary Chapel was built in 1897 on the site of the original church (before 1349) and is still used for special services.
We arrived by traveling uphill on a dirt road ending up in a countryside forested area overlooking the moors and fields of cattle and sheep.  A well-worn gate greeted us just outside a stone fence that hid the chapel from view.
We fought our way through the overgrown grass in the old section of the cemetery wondering about those souls whose stones have been there for centuries. 
I am glad we were there on a sunny morning and not during a dismal rainy day.  I think I could have been easily spooked!  However, we then wandered over to the more "modern" part of the cemetery where there were graves as new as a few years ago. There were a couple of plain and worn benches where one could sit a while to enjoy the views or think of a loved one or two. 
Being very respectful, we visited the bottom part of this section and my hosts told me that some episodes of the television show "Heartbeat" had been filmed on this location.  Whenever there was a funeral or gravesite scene, this is where they filmed it.
 Upon leaving through another wrought-iron gate, I glanced back and noticed that the gate had been installed in honour of someone else who must have had a some sort of impact on Egton.
Extensive thanks to the elegant Denise Nesbitt, creator of ABC Wednesday, and to the estimable Roger, our administrator.  Also extending thanks to the exceptional team of participants who embark on visitations to each and every person and goes to the effort of commenting on other contributors' posts.

Please note that I truly enjoy visiting old cemeteries and churches but not in a ghoulish way. I love their history because where I come from, there aren't many cemeteries, and the few we do have are walled and/or gated, sometimes locked.  I think it's an honour to visit and esteem the departed who perhaps will "hear" my prayers and greet me one day at those other "gates."

17 comments:

photowannabe said...

The chapel has such charm. I'm glad you got to visit a place with so much history.
I love visiting old cemeteries, wandering and wondering about the lives represented there.

Rajesh said...

Great to know about this place. Very interesting.

MelodyK said...

Although I've travelled there... your foto's look so familiar.... maybe because they remind me of one of my favorite Brittish crime-series ;-)

Wonderful choice for e... not likely to much will choose it too


Have a nice ABC-W-day / - week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)
http://melodymusic.nl/abc-wednesday-19-e/

Arnoldo L. Romero, MLA said...

Wow! Your photographs remind me of some of the scenes in Father Brown and Grantchester, two of the BBC series my wife and I like to watch on PBS. Blessings!

Reader Wil said...

Thank you for sharing this typically church surrounded by graves and very tall grass. It must be spooky when night falls and a lonely owl cries out loud.
Thanks for your visit. The wheel was the biggest one in the world when it was erected. But as you can read there are three newer wheels built in the meantime, bigger than this one.

Roger Owen Green said...

I am a sucker for cemeteries.

ROG, ABCW

Amit Agarwal said...

Very beautiful captures!

Nonnie said...

marvelous shots! The chapel has such wonderful architecture. Sometimes I think that the reason I like wandering through cemeteries is the love I have for words. Of course, most here don't have gravestones that date as far back as in Europe. However, there is one near where I grew up that has gravestones that date back to 1750s.

carol l mckenna said...

Fascinating post and very creative photography ~ love the cows laying down ^_^

Wishing you a happy week ~ ^_^

Hildred said...

A great post, Leslie. So much history in these old cemetery sites and beautiful photos. Thank you for visiting, - I am ambivalent about the results of photoshop, - but you are right, - the results do compare favourably with these lovely old landscape pictures.

Joy said...

Love the tall grasses, a very atmospheric place. I'm quite fond of pottering around old graveyards too.
In reply to your comment I live in the north west so I would say Liverpool because its the one I enjoy visiting, a good place to meet up if you are forward planning! (I live further north on the coast near to the Lake District).

Lea said...

Interesting series of photos!
The stone wall is my favorite, and I really like the last photo, too!

Indrani said...

Great pics. I visited a couple of them with similar thoughts in mind as yours!

Trubes said...

Interesting writing Leslie and delightful
pictures, most enjoyable read.
It was lovely to see you again in July,
Love Di,
ABCW team xxx
PS. Is Tegan still on the couch ?
That is so funny xx

Su-sieee! Mac said...

I like wandering around old cemeteries, too. So many interesting stories to consider when reading old tombstones.

Indira said...

Enchanting tour of the English countryside.

Unknown said...

good
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