Roger Bowdler

This is the first major study of the British cemetery. Written by acknowledged experts, it traces the rise from early modern times onwards of these new landscapes of remembrance. Victorian cemeteries drew on the Georgian churchyard tradition and a long-established interest in the burial customs of antiquity. New commercial opportunities were seized as church controls ended, with fast-growing urban populations demanding space for their dead. The results were magnificent: new combinations of layout, planting and myriad memorials arose, reflecting the eclectic taste and religious mood of the times. Virgin land on the edge of towns was adapted to receive mass burials, and the mason’s trade expanded rapidly to supply the growing market for family memorials. Chapters based on new research look at the evolution of buildings, planting and tombs. Contemporary comments are extensively cited, and a picture emerges of these complex places, seething with family loss and communal memory. From grand mausoleum to humble burial plot, this survey casts light on all varieties of grave, and brings the story up to the present day. The British Cemetery looks at a larger range of British cemeteries than any previous book on the subject, and reveals the history of their landscapes and monuments.

Britain's churchyards are among its most historic, peaceful and magical places. They are also among its most overlooked. This book will open readers eyes to the treasures to be found up and down the land.

The last veteran of the First World War has long since died, and those of the Second are getting ever scarcer, but public interest in war memorials continues unabated. The tragic impact of world events on local communities over the past century has demanded memorials to keep the dead in mind, and pay tribute to their sacrifice. Communities have been raising memorials to their war dead since the Middle Ages but the largest number were raised as a result of the First World War. War memorials were erected in their thousands after 1918: bronze Tommies and stone wayside crosses became commonplace, and can attain high levels of artistic refinement. Britain’s great cities raised magnificent monuments, as did regiments, railway companies, schools and private families. Among them are truly outstanding works of monumental art by sculptors such as Charles Sargeant Jagger, Gilbert Ledward and Eric Gill. Others took practical form: a swimming pool or a village hall, or a stained glass window. Their range and variety are huge, and their number is uncountable: no agreed tally exists. This book is part of the Britain’s Heritage series, which provides definitive introductions to the riches of Britain’s past, and is the perfect way to get acquainted with war memorials in all their variety.