July 8, 2024 • 33 mins
#108. I've always loved graveyards. I'm not sure what it is about them that draws me in, but a little while ago I decided to record my musings as I wander round them.
So that's what these Graveyard Musing episodes are, just me and my phone, in a graveyard. And sometimes I go international (like this one) and sometimes Chris joins me (like this one).
Anyway, welcome to another Graveyard Musing from me, Claire Sandys (host of The Silent Why podcast).
In this musing, Chris (husband) and I are wandering around Moorslede Communal Cemetery in Belgium.
Come with us to explore how different graves are in Belgium, and hear our thoughts as we look around a very crowded cemetery in Moorslede, but also a beautiful one we find on the other side of the road.
For the photos that accompany this episode, so you can visualise what we're talking about, visit: https://www.thesilentwhy.com/post/graveyardmusingsbelgiumagain
If you want to hear more episodes like this, check out:
Graveyard Musings, Tyne Cot & Ypres, Belgium: https://www.thesilentwhy.com/podcast/episode/7f63d7e9/graveyard-musings-tyne-cot-and-ypres-belgium
Graveyard Musings: Llanfair Talhaiarn, Wales:
https://www.thesilentwhy.com/podcast/episode/7e418cc4/graveyard-musings-llanfair-talhaiarn-wales
Graveyard Musings: Gloucestershire, England (Part 1 of 3):
https://www.thesilentwhy.com/podcast/episode/76b3f1f7/graveyard-musings-gloucestershire-england-part-1
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Claire (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to The Silent Why, I'm back with
another graveyard musingsepisode. I'm Claire, host of the
podcast. And as I record this,I'm still struggling to get my
voice back to normal after a drythroat viral thing that I've had
for nine weeks! So if I sound alittle bit strange, that's why.
(00:23):
Now, for your faithful followerswho have been around for a
while, or for those of you thatlove to start a new podcast from
episode one, you might rememberthat I've done a few episodes
called graveyard musings. Thisis because I'm a great lover of
graveyards and wandering aroundthem to read the names and the
stories on the headstones. Theyjust fascinate me. So while I
was doing this at our localgraveyard, I thought I'll record
some of my thoughts and makethem into an episode or
(00:45):
episodes, which I did in a threepart series. Then a while later,
I took graveyard musings on theroad and we went international.
And I did an extended episodefrom Belgium where I visited the
world's largest cemetery forCommonwealth soldiers - Tyne
Cot. Then I did one from acemetery that I can't even
pronounce in north Wales. Andnow I'm back with another one
from Belgium from a trip thatChris and I took at the end of
(01:05):
2023. And there's another cameofrom husband Chris in this
episode as we wander around agraveyard not far from where we
were staying in more sled, moresled communal cemetery. Then
over the road from that one, weactually wandered into a very
new looking cemetery with a wordon the wall that I also couldn't
pronounce. However, it turnedout when consulting our Dutch
friends, it's just the word forcemetery anyway, to hear its
(01:28):
proper pronunciation I have togo over to our good friend
Jelger (01:30):
Begraafplaats
Claire (01:31):
So many A's in that word, I cannot tell you. Do you
need four A's?! Anyway, thevillage of Moorslede, located
northeast of the town of Iepermost levels in the German hands
for much of the first world waruntil it was taken by Belgium
troops on the 29th of September1918. And the communal cemetery
contains the graves of twoCommonwealth airmen from the
(01:52):
First World War killed in aircombat in November 1917. Now,
Chris and I didn't know thatwhen we were looking around. So
when we're pondering why thereare two war graves there, you're
already going to know why.
However, I'm still no furtherforward on who our Lady Bundoran
was, or why that pathway wentinto a brick wall and whether
she was actually 600 years old.
We came across this cemetery onan evening walk a bit like we
(02:14):
did in Wales, and decided thatwe'd wander around and record
some of our conversation again,because the cemeteries in
Belgium are not like the ones inWales or in England. There's a
lot to see visually in thisgraveyard, which we're not
amazing at painting with words.
So if you want to see what we'redescribing, head over to the
link in the show notes to see myphotos and any video that I'll
put on the website, plus thegiant succulent that I really
wanted. So enjoy our musings asChris and I wander around a
(02:37):
Belgish is that a word?
Cemetery.
Okay, so here we are in Belgium,again.
Chris (02:46):
Moorslede.
Claire (02:47):
Moorslede specifically.
And we've come to visit acemetery this time that is not a
war based one, just one a normalfor Belgian people. This is not
like a normal cemetery inEngland. This is very different.
How would you describe whatyou're looking at now? A lot of
stone.
Chris (03:10):
A mixture of styles. You just walked down a long stretch
where it's almost like thecoffins if presumed those
coffins in there been placedinside a giant marble boxes
which have been sunk two thirdsinto the ground with a third of
the box in the huge tablets is asort of six foot by three foot
maybe all laying flat ish slightangle with a little bit of
(03:32):
writing. They're quite minimalreally much.
Claire (03:35):
Sometimes it's just literally a name. They haven't
even got dates. There's noinscription, no quotes. There
are quite off photos which kindof put on stone, like marble of
the people that have died. Some
Chris (03:50):
flowers, not many flowers.
Claire (03:52):
No, almost hardly any real. There's a few but yeah,
they're sort of planted inactual, like flower planters at
the end of the grave, not laidon the stone or the marble.
Chris (04:05):
If you if you glance up from them you've then got we
haven't gotten to them yet butyou've got what looks more like
stuff we see in Britain 1800brick slabs or night crosses,
all made of like quarters likeconcrete. Yeah, so very
different.
Claire (04:21):
I mean, literally touching a lot of different
styles of stone and marble andconcrete but they're touching
each other side by side. Soreally packed in
Chris (04:31):
if turned around, the ones behind us. Just flushed to
the floor. Again, large piecesof stone or marble. Probably
about four or five foot by foot,three foot. Different styles it
pebbledash pebbledash grave.
Yeah,
Claire (04:47):
it's so different from their war cemeteries which is so
organized and so uniform. Thisis a very different setup. And
they look really expensive. Imean, you know, headstones are
expensive. but this is like Idon't know something that's the
four or five, six times the sizeof a normal headstone that we'd
see in marble in the UK. Andthen the writing isn't even
(05:09):
etched for some of these overhere it's like metal that's been
like written in metal and thenattached to the top of it just
Chris (05:16):
to name a birth date and the death date just
Claire (05:20):
he just read these two people next to us Willie friends
Chris (05:25):
and Maria John shirt cheese. Yeah, they're not
Claire (05:31):
then not easy now to put out
Chris (05:34):
and quite a few of them as well the surnames aren't the
same zoom bits. While you sortof assume I'd assume that most
of these are a husband and awife that's
Claire (05:43):
less they put maiden names so they don't take married
names here so much I put maidennames on the graves
Chris (05:49):
mostly most of them the surnames there's two people's
names on there and the surnamesare different a lot
Claire (05:55):
of these kinds of photos I'll take some photos you
can see what I'm talking aboutbut
Chris (06:01):
it's almost like there's a law that you can only have on
the actual stone slab a name andthe dates and anything extra you
want to do a separate piece of
Claire (06:13):
data almost all got the same metal cross on it with a
flower climbing up it or nottowards like the flower
represents something whether youhave the flower you don't have
the flower
Chris (06:21):
the ones behind you they're slightly different they
have completely differentproperties my translate that to
see what some of this text sayssomething Julian do Bush rests
here goodbye to Madeline go
Claire (06:43):
there's a chance translate
Chris (06:47):
beautiful words.
Claire (06:49):
Him must be Mr. Or dear. Oh, this is
Chris (06:53):
an interesting one. took a photo of it. So 1914 to 1918
the fire cross departmentRoessler and surrounding regrets
warrior Akil Vanderlande Val,something dates the third of
(07:13):
March 1974.
Claire (07:15):
Okay, yeah, that mean you may have got that regrets
warrior translated wrong. Thatdoesn't sound lesson exists.
Chris (07:21):
Not directly
Claire (07:26):
so I'm wandering to the end because Chris has spotted a
giant bug hotel he wants to havea look at
Chris (07:31):
what I thought it was like kiosks and sort of pension
Judy.
Claire (07:36):
No, it's definitely a bug Hotel.
Chris (07:38):
Okay,
Claire (07:39):
so we're in a more slightly more grassy area a lot
more. And oh, there's a graveliterally in the middle of the
Yeah, this has been lifted.
Looks like a hole it's lifted.
Chris (07:50):
Looks like we're in the middle of the grass walkway.
Claire (07:52):
Okay, so we can see here what's underneath these big
marble stones. It's soil theymust bury people and then put
these big slabs that we'relooking at on top of where the
person has been buried.
Chris (08:06):
I'm not so sure looks like it's been there a while
Claire (08:10):
but they'd probably have to wait for the ground to
drop
Chris (08:14):
must very sandy soil these
Claire (08:16):
ones at the end here I've got like a black hoodie
color would you call cross? NoNo The inscription where they
put the words it's like a blackrectangle which looks like it's
made of glass or something andthen the words are sort of
etched on but in a kind of verysimilar font 90s
Chris (08:33):
Funky off see facts are the only be understood by those
in Britain yeah familiar withseats effects and teletext
Claire (08:43):
more so slightly distracted by the watering can
that's attached to a chain onthat pole
Chris (08:47):
was hanging for watering plan
Claire (08:52):
well yeah, but if it's chained to a pole, oh look, this
is Belgium for you. They're justso organized. So the Washington
is hanging from a metal pipejust off the ground and to get
the morphine can away from ityou have to put in a coin like
you do on trolleys So itliterally got the top of a
trolley supermarket that'sclever and you put your Euro
wherever it is you take thewatering can you do your washing
(09:12):
you put it back you get yourback that is genius. Never
Chris (09:16):
seen one of those before.
Claire (09:18):
I was constantly amazed by the organization's this
country. We should
Chris (09:21):
introduce them on to the home anything that we lose quite
a lot on system system aftermaternity claim
Claire (09:31):
case so now we're in amongst the I'd say more grander
graves I mean the one Chris'sstood next to must be about 15
feet by 15. Because
Chris (09:40):
of the king size bed that is is huge, pure marble
probably.
Claire (09:46):
There's probably like panels, eight.
Chris (09:50):
What concerns me slightly is the central panel, which is
probably the size of a doublebed has slipped slightly to see
inside up into Inside,
Claire (10:01):
there's no dates on there, you have no idea how old
the occupants are inside.
Chris (10:05):
Look how classy this one is just a big old flat piece of
marble. It just says family,brain br EY N E. And then across
and PX which I'm sure wastranslated to something like
classes.
Claire (10:21):
I don't know though.
It's just like a big box, youwill get put in. I am missing
the nice words and inscriptions.
That's partly sort of what Ilike I thought they tell
stories. These do not tellstories. Well, it's
Chris (10:33):
just speak Belgium, or Dutch or whatever, the speaker.
It's
Claire (10:37):
just a name. You can't get much more from a name, what
story have you deduced from thatname is true. Whereas at least a
quote, give us a bit of aninsight. Or, like you said, you
know, son, mother daughter.
This, this one's very correct,very old looking piece of stone.
But then I don't think there'sactually anything I'm wondering
who is actually an eating onunder these, whether they are
(10:59):
just all put on top of graves oron the ground. Maybe everything
above ground is just sort of forshow there's no actual
Chris (11:07):
now, mainly 19th century,
Claire (11:11):
a lot of very big concrete crosses, like 12 feet
tall. I mean, that was about 15feet tall.
Chris (11:19):
Not to move around to the side so we can see what's on
these big, the oldest presumablythe oldest graves.
Claire (11:27):
I do love their photos, lots of photos like weather
proof photos, like paper photos.
Chris (11:33):
And what looks like a roundabout in the middle of a
roundabout.
Claire (11:40):
Hydrangeas, they've got hydrangeas everywhere in this
country. All nice pink color,which for those who like
gardening will tell yousomething about the soil. All
these very old photos very old.
So these are buried in Oh 1874.
Chris (11:59):
And then 1936 1878 is that 1939
Claire (12:09):
These are like things out of horror films. You know,
when the stone is like smashedand something rises up. The
stone has been cracking before,you can just see the bricks
underneath it. There's obviouslynot actual, they're not directly
on
Chris (12:23):
these, they tend to go for huge slabs of stone, so many
of them have cracked, smashedweather very well. And also
something that I've noticed isthat so many inscriptions that
have been put in the stone haveeroded. Yes, they're not very
(12:45):
deep. They don't seem to putstuff on these graves to last.
Claire (12:53):
That's why it can't work out when you've got a big
marble slab like this and agrave. And then you've got two
bits of stone or marble that areput a stood on top of it like a
stand up PhotoFrame to justleave so you could just pick it
up and take it away. And they'vegot like a little inscription on
them. But this one here it saysAustralia 1940 to 45 which is
(13:16):
obviously only five years. So isthat a child that's added in?
Well
Chris (13:21):
look, I've strived for means. So strides are means old
warrior 1940 to 1945. So it'sreally five years now.
Claire (13:37):
Yeah, I don't understand why that fit is
separate from the actual grave.
And there's these little woodenplaques with like, bits of
laminated paper attached to themwith names and stuff on but need
to translate the past have
Chris (13:57):
a some sort of survey or work to make clear, keeping a
record of the gross
Claire (14:09):
it's really interesting how I presume if you're from
Belgium. This is like a fairlynormal sort of cemetery. But
it's so interesting howdifferent cultures do it because
for us this is quite different.
It's quite alien, as far ascemeteries are seen in England,
very ornate
Unknown (14:31):
tells you a lot about different countries where they
bury their dead just reached theend by
Chris (14:37):
a rather high maybe 10 foot brick wall. And there's
five quite randomly positionedgroves against the wall. So are
they there because they'respecial and we'll get an
exclusive spot or becausethey're outcasts Exactly.
(14:57):
Right making the noise. You justlooked at what these little
wooden signs mean? Yes,
Claire (15:05):
it looks like it's a notification or some sort of
concession that things need tobe renewed. Or I think it needs
basically means it needs work.
But lots of them have got it.
Not even the worst onesactually. Well, those that
permission, maybe those
Chris (15:21):
that own cemeteries have to they've got a duty of care to
make sure that they're thegraves are safe, and that no one
could be injured in thisincreasing time of health and
safety. So they're clearlyputting out notices to say, work
has to be carried out to thisgrave to make it so
Claire (15:39):
as an error with just one or two errors, I'm gonna
have a look at. Okay, let's dothat one. First. There's an
error. I could just see throughthe other graves. It's just this
row of concrete crosses, orabout maybe two, three feet
tall. all look exactly the samewith the same plaque. This looks
a lot more like the militarygraves. Oh, in fact, those two
are very identical to the gravesat Passchendaele. Yes,
Chris (16:02):
well, most of the war cemeteries of the Commonwealth
War Graves, and they are lefthand notes. So they're
Claire (16:08):
the ones I described in one of my previous graveyard
musings when we went to, to thepattern Dell graveyard. They're
like the white stone with it'sgot all engraved on it. Second
Lieutenant, Royal fieldartillery, it gets kind of their
rank and the day age 22 9017.
And then there's, there's thatcross on it that's quite
familiar. And then the stamp ofthe, of their regiment or
(16:29):
something,
Chris (16:33):
the military, why those two have been put here and not,
yeah, Commonwealth War.
Claire (16:38):
So those are the only two guys that we can see in the
whole cemetery that look likethat. And then next to that, is
a plot that's got all of theselittle crosses and names. But
they're people who died in the2000s. So it doesn't 18 to 11
doesn't force they're notnecessarily war related. But
there is a plaque here, whichmaybe Chris can translate. It
(17:01):
starts with Ross Platts, whichwe've worked out means resting
place. And then underneath itsaid, disasters. Oh, LV, middle
is short, which actuallytranslates to resting
Chris (17:15):
place sisters, Our Lady of the Middle Ages. So
Claire (17:20):
these are women.
They've all got the wordsaustere in it, which must mean
sister, my local NASA. Yeah,these would be nuns. And then
there's two or three in a tightrange, a flower bed. seems
unusual.
Chris (17:35):
Maybe that a special request to be? Yeah, nice away
from the rest.
Claire (17:43):
Also, what's interesting about the nuns
Graves is that there's fiveempty ones waiting for nuns,
Chris (17:50):
mostly finance,
Claire (17:52):
I presume? Yeah, I presume sisters and nuns out
here. Maybe they just likewhat's a medical system? You
know what the hospitals? This isthis.
Chris (17:59):
I'm not sure that's what these are four.
Claire (18:03):
And this one here,
Chris (18:04):
this is a really unusual
Claire (18:06):
piece of sculpture of crosses that are all
intersecting each other into onebig sort of piece of concrete
and described that they will.
But next to it is this 10
Chris (18:17):
blundering 10, Bunder and 12. From 1269 to
Claire (18:23):
1980. Then there's like a pathway that leads away from
it into a brick wall. Becausehe's walking on it, and not sure
if that's allowed, but he'sgonna take his Google Translate
Chris (18:34):
10 Bunder and go
Claire (18:38):
at Our Lady 10 vondre.
And on lace, I don't think shelived from 1269 to 1980. Lady,
she'd have seen a lot in thatlifetime. Do some math. How old
was she when she died?
Chris (18:51):
Wells 600 611 years old.
Claire (18:56):
I mean, that does deserve a special sorts of
monument, I suppose. Yeah, we'reno further forward on that one.
So now we've moved to the otherarea that stands out as being
very different. This is this ismore like, expect things to be
(19:17):
in Belgium when you talk aboutbeing organized. So there's lots
and lots of marble posts thatare about 12 inches wide, three
inches deep. A couple of feethigh. And they've almost all
want to say oh yeah, got almostgot photos of the person who
died on them. Mostly with acrossthe name and then maybe dates.
(19:40):
Sometimes there's two people andthey're all very modern. So
they've all died 2005 onwards.
Ish. Tell
Chris (19:50):
you what this makes me think of the fire has been
buried here. What photo wouldyou choose of me?
Claire (19:54):
It's a big thing, isn't it? It's not just something
that's put up on the screen atyour funeral. This is what you
want people to see. Andinterestingly most people have
gone through very seriousphotos. There's not much here
that makes you smile or laugh.
Well,
Chris (20:04):
Jack's who died in 2022 Looks mischievous might rightly
say to his family. Why do youchoose the one with the blue
curtain behind my head? says oh,
Claire (20:13):
oh, John Pierre might be, you know, frustrated that he
wasn't even looking at thecamera.
Chris (20:17):
Well, he's clearly at some sort of bird spotting. Hut.
Yeah.
Claire (20:24):
I don't know Wilhelm doesn't look like he was he knew
his photo was being taken. Oh,looks more like Shawn Mitchell
from EastEnders. Ludwig lookslike Don't take my photo Oh,
look at what he thinks he lookshappy. slightly stretched
sideways I think they might havetweaked the image and
accidentally stretched him greatpicture he's got a look of
(20:48):
mischievous about him.
Chris (20:52):
Oh, no picture on trends.
Claire (20:56):
They have got a inscription thing instead from
Chris (20:59):
Sasha Harris and Dylan
Claire (21:03):
Franz it's very angry that he died at all because a
lot of frogs
Chris (21:07):
so clearly these can't be burial spots ashes, the ashes
both in large large flashes
Claire (21:17):
and would also tell me that more modern people are
getting created they're notgetting buried
Chris (21:25):
so Okay, look at this couple here. So this is a couple
photo it's quite rare. They tohave like a stripy blue
backdrop, and then you Jemainehere. So I think and Wilfred as
well. I think I was unfair toJack and criticizing families
(21:48):
choice of curtain backdrop. Soeither there's a business here
in Belgium where you can go andhave a pre death photo taken
against some blue curtains toget when you predict I think it
was like a family photo.
Someone's using computersoftware with the photos that
are submitted, and they've optedfor blue to change the backdrop
I'm
Claire (22:08):
a bit sad for Chris Dion It looks like she might
have got arrested some time andthey used the mug
Chris (22:14):
shot nobody ever wanted picture
Claire (22:16):
really is these don't have drones got like he's like a
sort of military uniform on anold guy. So oh, okay, I've got
to say I haven't I haven't seenas anyone any young people but
there's a there's a line downthe back here. It's definitely
(22:37):
well there's one greater there'sdefinitely a child
Chris (22:39):
a lot more angels and statues on me this long. Yeah,
Claire (22:43):
look. So that's like March to May 1990. So these
would be the children butinterestingly they're still got
quite bigger knightstone gradesthis one here that's got like a
bright pink glass bit in it withlike a rabbit and a moon little
(23:09):
girl the end of the month lookit's almost a year I was born
again I lived a few monthsShipley What a great name
Shipley first name last shipyour second yeah ship Do you
think Yeah. Since that wall
Chris (23:32):
was just a big patch of leaves,
Claire (23:36):
maybe that's more like kind of a natural burial missing
grades just Yes, a gap inbetween all the marble but all
you can see is grass and somesort of plant growing.
Chris (23:46):
One of the things that strikes us about this part of
the world in Westland is inBelgium is how different all
houses are they don't get astreet where all has the same
every house is individually. Andpartly this I guess due to the
fact that it's so new. There'sso much of this area was
flattened in the First World Warbits of a second world war. So
(24:11):
so much of it has been built meso maybe shouldn't be too
surprised that a graveyard likethis there's so much variety in
how the graves look. There wasone particular style that of all
follows well
Claire (24:24):
massively stands out is the amount of pictures I have
never seen this many photos andthey're all propped on top of
the grave. Looks like photoframes in marble everywhere.
Very visual.
Chris (24:38):
I haven't seen that before. You've got another
section of sisters.
Claire (24:42):
Oh yeah, again, concrete crosses all in a row.
Identical.
Chris (24:49):
This there's two rather large waste bins over there so
I'm not sure he gets a cornerwith the waste bins. Got one
last bit to look at before weexit
Claire (25:00):
cuz this one, what would you
Chris (25:02):
describe these blocks against the wall? How would you
what do they? Like?
Claire (25:07):
Yeah, imagine a brick wall and it's got built into it.
Locker doors that are made ofwhat looks like glass from a
distance, we can see words onthem. There's flowers on the
floor, some are hanging off thefront of the doors. My guess is
this is another ashes. Space.
Very nice looking succulent andthat pot there. I'm one of those
(25:30):
myself. Okay, so it's actuallymarble. Yeah, I thought they
were. Yes. And it's got the nameand the dates on it again.
Nothing else. Oh, and across,across on them. And
Chris (25:43):
the most recent as well.
I think that's 2023. That's themost recent one I've seen. Yeah.
Claire (25:48):
Again, quite a lot of mobile photos on.
Chris (25:50):
So presumably in these square hatches? You place an
urn? Yeah. Screw on that.
Marble. And
Claire (26:00):
there's some blank ones here. Not many though. Hopefully
you can't really add to it. Canyou? I do really want that
succulent.
Chris (26:06):
It's your little chips.
Yeah.
Claire (26:12):
I guess the further you go down the older they are. If
there is flowers, I tend to befake. Someone says to people
money though mostly one
Chris (26:23):
interesting design idea.
And so different to
Claire (26:30):
look at what? Okay, this is the most modern grave I
have ever seen. 1959 2011 Piettehas outdone himself herself
himself. It's a great slab ofmarble, like normal one all got
that bug. It's about two inchestall. Goes like the whole length
(26:54):
of the grave. And then on top ofit is six metal posts, Poles new
poles. And then there's a curvedbit of glass that's sort of
attached to the poles hoveringabout six inches off the grave.
We'll get a photo I don't knowhow to describe it. But it's
pretty incredible. And the factthat glass is so clean tells me
someone's looking after it wellas well. That is really unusual.
(27:14):
And
Chris (27:14):
some sort of transcription that follows.
Yeah,
Claire (27:18):
it goes all the way around the outside. Coming to
you now with a live GoogleTranslate Bob
Chris (27:25):
sweet until it starts writing. Right?
Claire (27:29):
Not sure Google Translate photos helping us out
on this. Love until it hurts. Itmakes more sense.
Chris (27:38):
go too far and strive. By force nor by wha
Claire (27:49):
it's bit tricky because the weight curves.
Chris (27:51):
Something about dishonor apparently. I don't
Claire (27:55):
believe that, it seems to some sort of like Comey.
Chris (27:58):
Yeah, I don't think my translate app is particularly
accurate.
Claire (28:06):
Two found a weird day.
Okay, so we've found a wall, asmall sort of triangular wall
was a big headstone in themiddle and there's just lots of
plaques with names on them. Tinylittle ones, just with literally
the name and the dates. And thenlots of flowers beneath that.
And then little stones that arepropped up on the ground, some
with photos on again names anddates. And at the top, it says
(28:29):
spread Meadow is thetranslation. And as Chris
pointed out, there's a big pieceof grass behind it that's sort
of cornered off
Chris (28:43):
is this broad meadow. So we reckon this
Claire (28:45):
is where people can spread ashes and then just have
a plaque put up for their fortheir loved one instead of
actually having the urn here
Chris (28:54):
in UBC. And then the middle of the grass, what looks
like a recent spreading of someashes.
Claire (29:00):
That's another option.
Chris (29:02):
There's just a little way to walk into it. So if you want
to spread the ashes just on thissection and put your name plaque
by the size of a name badge onthe wall, you can
Claire (29:18):
see, we were just leaving the graveyard and we
crossed the road and it was thisbig new yellow hold that had
some words on it. And we thoughtwhat's that? So we held up our
Google Translator camera and itsaid cemetery. So we crossed the
road and walk through the gap inthe wall which kind of went
round and it's all very welllandscaped beautiful walkway
with these lovely yellow stones.
It leads you into a middle bitwhere there's going to be a wall
(29:41):
or a water feature. And then youkeep going through more walls
and there's a new graveyard. Andthis is obviously where they're
burying people from now onwards,but you can already see the way
they're structured. It's goingto be pretty beautiful,
Chris (29:55):
very, very attractive.
Claire (29:58):
So obviously people who die From now onwards are being
basically planted again, beingburied in this new cemetery. But
yeah, it's beautiful the waythey're starting to landscape it
already, there's areas you cansee that are going to go in and
hedges that will curve around togive some privacy to those
graves. And there's also someareas of like concrete, they've
(30:18):
created the structure for newgrades to go in. And we can't
quite work out what that'sabout, because it looks like
it's all concrete.
Chris (30:25):
It's like a concrete grid. But elegantly done.
Whether they dig through theconcrete when they're putting a
coffee
Claire (30:35):
shop, I'll put some trades on the blog, so you can
see what we're talking about.
But yeah, it's really lovely.
And it goes out into open sortof countryside beyond. It's,
yeah, it's quite stunning. This,this feels like how, again,
Belgium would do something fromthe start, if they were starting
a new secretary, this has got alot of thought going into it.
It's not just oh, we've got afield, let's start burying
(30:57):
people, the whole structure ofit. And a lot of architects
design care, respect a lot ofrespect, that what they're
doing, the main
Chris (31:06):
thing you've got mentioned, is that there's two
standards with new watering cansand new token systems. So each
stand holds for watering cans.
And you can have them justgently in the wind. hollow
plastic knocking sounds is theauthentic artistic installation.
Claire (31:34):
And they were attached with the same trolley system we
put your coin in will get yourwatching, can you fill up at the
tap, and then you take it backagain. It's just genius. I'm
absolutely blown away by thissimple yet effective idea for
people not stealing wateringcans. So we're going to head
back to our accommodation now.
And try not to come across anyother cemeteries on the way get
distracted by. But yeah,overall, I'm very impressed with
(31:56):
the variety here. What's thething that sort of surprised you
the most about these twocemeteries?
Chris (32:02):
We'll see this year through the variety the
different styles, very littleuniformity, like you mentioned,
with the war Commonwealth WarGraves around us in this region,
which had just the pinnacle ofuniformity. And there seems to
be quite the opposite. Verydifferent styles very different
tributes lack of lack of tributeto many lots of photos,
Claire (32:26):
cuz even this new one, like I said, the graves are all
quite different again, but yetthey've also got that section
with the marble posts wherethey're obviously putting
people's ashes. They're all thesame. Quite regimented. Yeah,
it's interesting. The photos arethe thing I think stand out most
for me a lot of photos and verylittle words about the people
that have died sight. It's not apriority at all more about the
face than the story.
Chris (32:47):
You're the photo on your No, I
Claire (32:49):
don't want to. I haven't found a photo of me yet
that I would like on myheadstone to get
Chris (32:53):
choosing. If that changes me we'll do a photo shoot most
blue curtains behind us.
Claire (33:02):
I don't see.
Chris (33:03):
I welcome that.
Hello, and welcome to The Silent Why, I'm back with
another graveyard musingsepisode. I'm Claire, host of the
podcast. And as I record this,I'm still struggling to get my
voice back to normal after a drythroat viral thing that I've had
for nine weeks! So if I sound alittle bit strange, that's why.
(00:23):
Now, for your faithful followerswho have been around for a
while, or for those of you thatlove to start a new podcast from
episode one, you might rememberthat I've done a few episodes
called graveyard musings. Thisis because I'm a great lover of
graveyards and wandering aroundthem to read the names and the
stories on the headstones. Theyjust fascinate me. So while I
was doing this at our localgraveyard, I thought I'll record
some of my thoughts and makethem into an episode or
(00:45):
episodes, which I did in a threepart series. Then a while later,
I took graveyard musings on theroad and we went international.
And I did an extended episodefrom Belgium where I visited the
world's largest cemetery forCommonwealth soldiers - Tyne
Cot. Then I did one from acemetery that I can't even
pronounce in north Wales. Andnow I'm back with another one
from Belgium from a trip thatChris and I took at the end of
(01:05):
2023. And there's another cameofrom husband Chris in this
episode as we wander around agraveyard not far from where we
were staying in more sled, moresled communal cemetery. Then
over the road from that one, weactually wandered into a very
new looking cemetery with a wordon the wall that I also couldn't
pronounce. However, it turnedout when consulting our Dutch
friends, it's just the word forcemetery anyway, to hear its
(01:28):
proper pronunciation I have togo over to our good friend
Jelger (01:30):
Begraafplaats
Claire (01:31):
So many A's in that word, I cannot tell you. Do you
need four A's?! Anyway, thevillage of Moorslede, located
northeast of the town of Iepermost levels in the German hands
for much of the first world waruntil it was taken by Belgium
troops on the 29th of September1918. And the communal cemetery
contains the graves of twoCommonwealth airmen from the
(01:52):
First World War killed in aircombat in November 1917. Now,
Chris and I didn't know thatwhen we were looking around. So
when we're pondering why thereare two war graves there, you're
already going to know why.
However, I'm still no furtherforward on who our Lady Bundoran
was, or why that pathway wentinto a brick wall and whether
she was actually 600 years old.
We came across this cemetery onan evening walk a bit like we
(02:14):
did in Wales, and decided thatwe'd wander around and record
some of our conversation again,because the cemeteries in
Belgium are not like the ones inWales or in England. There's a
lot to see visually in thisgraveyard, which we're not
amazing at painting with words.
So if you want to see what we'redescribing, head over to the
link in the show notes to see myphotos and any video that I'll
put on the website, plus thegiant succulent that I really
wanted. So enjoy our musings asChris and I wander around a
(02:37):
Belgish is that a word?
Cemetery.
Okay, so here we are in Belgium,again.
Chris (02:46):
Moorslede.
Claire (02:47):
Moorslede specifically.
And we've come to visit acemetery this time that is not a
war based one, just one a normalfor Belgian people. This is not
like a normal cemetery inEngland. This is very different.
How would you describe whatyou're looking at now? A lot of
stone.
Chris (03:10):
A mixture of styles. You just walked down a long stretch
where it's almost like thecoffins if presumed those
coffins in there been placedinside a giant marble boxes
which have been sunk two thirdsinto the ground with a third of
the box in the huge tablets is asort of six foot by three foot
maybe all laying flat ish slightangle with a little bit of
(03:32):
writing. They're quite minimalreally much.
Claire (03:35):
Sometimes it's just literally a name. They haven't
even got dates. There's noinscription, no quotes. There
are quite off photos which kindof put on stone, like marble of
the people that have died. Some
Chris (03:50):
flowers, not many flowers.
Claire (03:52):
No, almost hardly any real. There's a few but yeah,
they're sort of planted inactual, like flower planters at
the end of the grave, not laidon the stone or the marble.
Chris (04:05):
If you if you glance up from them you've then got we
haven't gotten to them yet butyou've got what looks more like
stuff we see in Britain 1800brick slabs or night crosses,
all made of like quarters likeconcrete. Yeah, so very
different.
Claire (04:21):
I mean, literally touching a lot of different
styles of stone and marble andconcrete but they're touching
each other side by side. Soreally packed in
Chris (04:31):
if turned around, the ones behind us. Just flushed to
the floor. Again, large piecesof stone or marble. Probably
about four or five foot by foot,three foot. Different styles it
pebbledash pebbledash grave.
Yeah,
Claire (04:47):
it's so different from their war cemeteries which is so
organized and so uniform. Thisis a very different setup. And
they look really expensive. Imean, you know, headstones are
expensive. but this is like Idon't know something that's the
four or five, six times the sizeof a normal headstone that we'd
see in marble in the UK. Andthen the writing isn't even
(05:09):
etched for some of these overhere it's like metal that's been
like written in metal and thenattached to the top of it just
Chris (05:16):
to name a birth date and the death date just
Claire (05:20):
he just read these two people next to us Willie friends
Chris (05:25):
and Maria John shirt cheese. Yeah, they're not
Claire (05:31):
then not easy now to put out
Chris (05:34):
and quite a few of them as well the surnames aren't the
same zoom bits. While you sortof assume I'd assume that most
of these are a husband and awife that's
Claire (05:43):
less they put maiden names so they don't take married
names here so much I put maidennames on the graves
Chris (05:49):
mostly most of them the surnames there's two people's
names on there and the surnamesare different a lot
Claire (05:55):
of these kinds of photos I'll take some photos you
can see what I'm talking aboutbut
Chris (06:01):
it's almost like there's a law that you can only have on
the actual stone slab a name andthe dates and anything extra you
want to do a separate piece of
Claire (06:13):
data almost all got the same metal cross on it with a
flower climbing up it or nottowards like the flower
represents something whether youhave the flower you don't have
the flower
Chris (06:21):
the ones behind you they're slightly different they
have completely differentproperties my translate that to
see what some of this text sayssomething Julian do Bush rests
here goodbye to Madeline go
Claire (06:43):
there's a chance translate
Chris (06:47):
beautiful words.
Claire (06:49):
Him must be Mr. Or dear. Oh, this is
Chris (06:53):
an interesting one. took a photo of it. So 1914 to 1918
the fire cross departmentRoessler and surrounding regrets
warrior Akil Vanderlande Val,something dates the third of
(07:13):
March 1974.
Claire (07:15):
Okay, yeah, that mean you may have got that regrets
warrior translated wrong. Thatdoesn't sound lesson exists.
Chris (07:21):
Not directly
Claire (07:26):
so I'm wandering to the end because Chris has spotted a
giant bug hotel he wants to havea look at
Chris (07:31):
what I thought it was like kiosks and sort of pension
Judy.
Claire (07:36):
No, it's definitely a bug Hotel.
Chris (07:38):
Okay,
Claire (07:39):
so we're in a more slightly more grassy area a lot
more. And oh, there's a graveliterally in the middle of the
Yeah, this has been lifted.
Looks like a hole it's lifted.
Chris (07:50):
Looks like we're in the middle of the grass walkway.
Claire (07:52):
Okay, so we can see here what's underneath these big
marble stones. It's soil theymust bury people and then put
these big slabs that we'relooking at on top of where the
person has been buried.
Chris (08:06):
I'm not so sure looks like it's been there a while
Claire (08:10):
but they'd probably have to wait for the ground to
drop
Chris (08:14):
must very sandy soil these
Claire (08:16):
ones at the end here I've got like a black hoodie
color would you call cross? NoNo The inscription where they
put the words it's like a blackrectangle which looks like it's
made of glass or something andthen the words are sort of
etched on but in a kind of verysimilar font 90s
Chris (08:33):
Funky off see facts are the only be understood by those
in Britain yeah familiar withseats effects and teletext
Claire (08:43):
more so slightly distracted by the watering can
that's attached to a chain onthat pole
Chris (08:47):
was hanging for watering plan
Claire (08:52):
well yeah, but if it's chained to a pole, oh look, this
is Belgium for you. They're justso organized. So the Washington
is hanging from a metal pipejust off the ground and to get
the morphine can away from ityou have to put in a coin like
you do on trolleys So itliterally got the top of a
trolley supermarket that'sclever and you put your Euro
wherever it is you take thewatering can you do your washing
(09:12):
you put it back you get yourback that is genius. Never
Chris (09:16):
seen one of those before.
Claire (09:18):
I was constantly amazed by the organization's this
country. We should
Chris (09:21):
introduce them on to the home anything that we lose quite
a lot on system system aftermaternity claim
Claire (09:31):
case so now we're in amongst the I'd say more grander
graves I mean the one Chris'sstood next to must be about 15
feet by 15. Because
Chris (09:40):
of the king size bed that is is huge, pure marble
probably.
Claire (09:46):
There's probably like panels, eight.
Chris (09:50):
What concerns me slightly is the central panel, which is
probably the size of a doublebed has slipped slightly to see
inside up into Inside,
Claire (10:01):
there's no dates on there, you have no idea how old
the occupants are inside.
Chris (10:05):
Look how classy this one is just a big old flat piece of
marble. It just says family,brain br EY N E. And then across
and PX which I'm sure wastranslated to something like
classes.
Claire (10:21):
I don't know though.
It's just like a big box, youwill get put in. I am missing
the nice words and inscriptions.
That's partly sort of what Ilike I thought they tell
stories. These do not tellstories. Well, it's
Chris (10:33):
just speak Belgium, or Dutch or whatever, the speaker.
It's
Claire (10:37):
just a name. You can't get much more from a name, what
story have you deduced from thatname is true. Whereas at least a
quote, give us a bit of aninsight. Or, like you said, you
know, son, mother daughter.
This, this one's very correct,very old looking piece of stone.
But then I don't think there'sactually anything I'm wondering
who is actually an eating onunder these, whether they are
(10:59):
just all put on top of graves oron the ground. Maybe everything
above ground is just sort of forshow there's no actual
Chris (11:07):
now, mainly 19th century,
Claire (11:11):
a lot of very big concrete crosses, like 12 feet
tall. I mean, that was about 15feet tall.
Chris (11:19):
Not to move around to the side so we can see what's on
these big, the oldest presumablythe oldest graves.
Claire (11:27):
I do love their photos, lots of photos like weather
proof photos, like paper photos.
Chris (11:33):
And what looks like a roundabout in the middle of a
roundabout.
Claire (11:40):
Hydrangeas, they've got hydrangeas everywhere in this
country. All nice pink color,which for those who like
gardening will tell yousomething about the soil. All
these very old photos very old.
So these are buried in Oh 1874.
Chris (11:59):
And then 1936 1878 is that 1939
Claire (12:09):
These are like things out of horror films. You know,
when the stone is like smashedand something rises up. The
stone has been cracking before,you can just see the bricks
underneath it. There's obviouslynot actual, they're not directly
on
Chris (12:23):
these, they tend to go for huge slabs of stone, so many
of them have cracked, smashedweather very well. And also
something that I've noticed isthat so many inscriptions that
have been put in the stone haveeroded. Yes, they're not very
(12:45):
deep. They don't seem to putstuff on these graves to last.
Claire (12:53):
That's why it can't work out when you've got a big
marble slab like this and agrave. And then you've got two
bits of stone or marble that areput a stood on top of it like a
stand up PhotoFrame to justleave so you could just pick it
up and take it away. And they'vegot like a little inscription on
them. But this one here it saysAustralia 1940 to 45 which is
(13:16):
obviously only five years. So isthat a child that's added in?
Well
Chris (13:21):
look, I've strived for means. So strides are means old
warrior 1940 to 1945. So it'sreally five years now.
Claire (13:37):
Yeah, I don't understand why that fit is
separate from the actual grave.
And there's these little woodenplaques with like, bits of
laminated paper attached to themwith names and stuff on but need
to translate the past have
Chris (13:57):
a some sort of survey or work to make clear, keeping a
record of the gross
Claire (14:09):
it's really interesting how I presume if you're from
Belgium. This is like a fairlynormal sort of cemetery. But
it's so interesting howdifferent cultures do it because
for us this is quite different.
It's quite alien, as far ascemeteries are seen in England,
very ornate
Unknown (14:31):
tells you a lot about different countries where they
bury their dead just reached theend by
Chris (14:37):
a rather high maybe 10 foot brick wall. And there's
five quite randomly positionedgroves against the wall. So are
they there because they'respecial and we'll get an
exclusive spot or becausethey're outcasts Exactly.
(14:57):
Right making the noise. You justlooked at what these little
wooden signs mean? Yes,
Claire (15:05):
it looks like it's a notification or some sort of
concession that things need tobe renewed. Or I think it needs
basically means it needs work.
But lots of them have got it.
Not even the worst onesactually. Well, those that
permission, maybe those
Chris (15:21):
that own cemeteries have to they've got a duty of care to
make sure that they're thegraves are safe, and that no one
could be injured in thisincreasing time of health and
safety. So they're clearlyputting out notices to say, work
has to be carried out to thisgrave to make it so
Claire (15:39):
as an error with just one or two errors, I'm gonna
have a look at. Okay, let's dothat one. First. There's an
error. I could just see throughthe other graves. It's just this
row of concrete crosses, orabout maybe two, three feet
tall. all look exactly the samewith the same plaque. This looks
a lot more like the militarygraves. Oh, in fact, those two
are very identical to the gravesat Passchendaele. Yes,
Chris (16:02):
well, most of the war cemeteries of the Commonwealth
War Graves, and they are lefthand notes. So they're
Claire (16:08):
the ones I described in one of my previous graveyard
musings when we went to, to thepattern Dell graveyard. They're
like the white stone with it'sgot all engraved on it. Second
Lieutenant, Royal fieldartillery, it gets kind of their
rank and the day age 22 9017.
And then there's, there's thatcross on it that's quite
familiar. And then the stamp ofthe, of their regiment or
(16:29):
something,
Chris (16:33):
the military, why those two have been put here and not,
yeah, Commonwealth War.
Claire (16:38):
So those are the only two guys that we can see in the
whole cemetery that look likethat. And then next to that, is
a plot that's got all of theselittle crosses and names. But
they're people who died in the2000s. So it doesn't 18 to 11
doesn't force they're notnecessarily war related. But
there is a plaque here, whichmaybe Chris can translate. It
(17:01):
starts with Ross Platts, whichwe've worked out means resting
place. And then underneath itsaid, disasters. Oh, LV, middle
is short, which actuallytranslates to resting
Chris (17:15):
place sisters, Our Lady of the Middle Ages. So
Claire (17:20):
these are women.
They've all got the wordsaustere in it, which must mean
sister, my local NASA. Yeah,these would be nuns. And then
there's two or three in a tightrange, a flower bed. seems
unusual.
Chris (17:35):
Maybe that a special request to be? Yeah, nice away
from the rest.
Claire (17:43):
Also, what's interesting about the nuns
Graves is that there's fiveempty ones waiting for nuns,
Chris (17:50):
mostly finance,
Claire (17:52):
I presume? Yeah, I presume sisters and nuns out
here. Maybe they just likewhat's a medical system? You
know what the hospitals? This isthis.
Chris (17:59):
I'm not sure that's what these are four.
Claire (18:03):
And this one here,
Chris (18:04):
this is a really unusual
Claire (18:06):
piece of sculpture of crosses that are all
intersecting each other into onebig sort of piece of concrete
and described that they will.
But next to it is this 10
Chris (18:17):
blundering 10, Bunder and 12. From 1269 to
Claire (18:23):
1980. Then there's like a pathway that leads away from
it into a brick wall. Becausehe's walking on it, and not sure
if that's allowed, but he'sgonna take his Google Translate
Chris (18:34):
10 Bunder and go
Claire (18:38):
at Our Lady 10 vondre.
And on lace, I don't think shelived from 1269 to 1980. Lady,
she'd have seen a lot in thatlifetime. Do some math. How old
was she when she died?
Chris (18:51):
Wells 600 611 years old.
Claire (18:56):
I mean, that does deserve a special sorts of
monument, I suppose. Yeah, we'reno further forward on that one.
So now we've moved to the otherarea that stands out as being
very different. This is this ismore like, expect things to be
(19:17):
in Belgium when you talk aboutbeing organized. So there's lots
and lots of marble posts thatare about 12 inches wide, three
inches deep. A couple of feethigh. And they've almost all
want to say oh yeah, got almostgot photos of the person who
died on them. Mostly with acrossthe name and then maybe dates.
(19:40):
Sometimes there's two people andthey're all very modern. So
they've all died 2005 onwards.
Ish. Tell
Chris (19:50):
you what this makes me think of the fire has been
buried here. What photo wouldyou choose of me?
Claire (19:54):
It's a big thing, isn't it? It's not just something
that's put up on the screen atyour funeral. This is what you
want people to see. Andinterestingly most people have
gone through very seriousphotos. There's not much here
that makes you smile or laugh.
Well,
Chris (20:04):
Jack's who died in 2022 Looks mischievous might rightly
say to his family. Why do youchoose the one with the blue
curtain behind my head? says oh,
Claire (20:13):
oh, John Pierre might be, you know, frustrated that he
wasn't even looking at thecamera.
Chris (20:17):
Well, he's clearly at some sort of bird spotting. Hut.
Yeah.
Claire (20:24):
I don't know Wilhelm doesn't look like he was he knew
his photo was being taken. Oh,looks more like Shawn Mitchell
from EastEnders. Ludwig lookslike Don't take my photo Oh,
look at what he thinks he lookshappy. slightly stretched
sideways I think they might havetweaked the image and
accidentally stretched him greatpicture he's got a look of
(20:48):
mischievous about him.
Chris (20:52):
Oh, no picture on trends.
Claire (20:56):
They have got a inscription thing instead from
Chris (20:59):
Sasha Harris and Dylan
Claire (21:03):
Franz it's very angry that he died at all because a
lot of frogs
Chris (21:07):
so clearly these can't be burial spots ashes, the ashes
both in large large flashes
Claire (21:17):
and would also tell me that more modern people are
getting created they're notgetting buried
Chris (21:25):
so Okay, look at this couple here. So this is a couple
photo it's quite rare. They tohave like a stripy blue
backdrop, and then you Jemainehere. So I think and Wilfred as
well. I think I was unfair toJack and criticizing families
(21:48):
choice of curtain backdrop. Soeither there's a business here
in Belgium where you can go andhave a pre death photo taken
against some blue curtains toget when you predict I think it
was like a family photo.
Someone's using computersoftware with the photos that
are submitted, and they've optedfor blue to change the backdrop
I'm
Claire (22:08):
a bit sad for Chris Dion It looks like she might
have got arrested some time andthey used the mug
Chris (22:14):
shot nobody ever wanted picture
Claire (22:16):
really is these don't have drones got like he's like a
sort of military uniform on anold guy. So oh, okay, I've got
to say I haven't I haven't seenas anyone any young people but
there's a there's a line downthe back here. It's definitely
(22:37):
well there's one greater there'sdefinitely a child
Chris (22:39):
a lot more angels and statues on me this long. Yeah,
Claire (22:43):
look. So that's like March to May 1990. So these
would be the children butinterestingly they're still got
quite bigger knightstone gradesthis one here that's got like a
bright pink glass bit in it withlike a rabbit and a moon little
(23:09):
girl the end of the month lookit's almost a year I was born
again I lived a few monthsShipley What a great name
Shipley first name last shipyour second yeah ship Do you
think Yeah. Since that wall
Chris (23:32):
was just a big patch of leaves,
Claire (23:36):
maybe that's more like kind of a natural burial missing
grades just Yes, a gap inbetween all the marble but all
you can see is grass and somesort of plant growing.
Chris (23:46):
One of the things that strikes us about this part of
the world in Westland is inBelgium is how different all
houses are they don't get astreet where all has the same
every house is individually. Andpartly this I guess due to the
fact that it's so new. There'sso much of this area was
flattened in the First World Warbits of a second world war. So
(24:11):
so much of it has been built meso maybe shouldn't be too
surprised that a graveyard likethis there's so much variety in
how the graves look. There wasone particular style that of all
follows well
Claire (24:24):
massively stands out is the amount of pictures I have
never seen this many photos andthey're all propped on top of
the grave. Looks like photoframes in marble everywhere.
Very visual.
Chris (24:38):
I haven't seen that before. You've got another
section of sisters.
Claire (24:42):
Oh yeah, again, concrete crosses all in a row.
Identical.
Chris (24:49):
This there's two rather large waste bins over there so
I'm not sure he gets a cornerwith the waste bins. Got one
last bit to look at before weexit
Claire (25:00):
cuz this one, what would you
Chris (25:02):
describe these blocks against the wall? How would you
what do they? Like?
Claire (25:07):
Yeah, imagine a brick wall and it's got built into it.
Locker doors that are made ofwhat looks like glass from a
distance, we can see words onthem. There's flowers on the
floor, some are hanging off thefront of the doors. My guess is
this is another ashes. Space.
Very nice looking succulent andthat pot there. I'm one of those
(25:30):
myself. Okay, so it's actuallymarble. Yeah, I thought they
were. Yes. And it's got the nameand the dates on it again.
Nothing else. Oh, and across,across on them. And
Chris (25:43):
the most recent as well.
I think that's 2023. That's themost recent one I've seen. Yeah.
Claire (25:48):
Again, quite a lot of mobile photos on.
Chris (25:50):
So presumably in these square hatches? You place an
urn? Yeah. Screw on that.
Marble. And
Claire (26:00):
there's some blank ones here. Not many though. Hopefully
you can't really add to it. Canyou? I do really want that
succulent.
Chris (26:06):
It's your little chips.
Yeah.
Claire (26:12):
I guess the further you go down the older they are. If
there is flowers, I tend to befake. Someone says to people
money though mostly one
Chris (26:23):
interesting design idea.
And so different to
Claire (26:30):
look at what? Okay, this is the most modern grave I
have ever seen. 1959 2011 Piettehas outdone himself herself
himself. It's a great slab ofmarble, like normal one all got
that bug. It's about two inchestall. Goes like the whole length
(26:54):
of the grave. And then on top ofit is six metal posts, Poles new
poles. And then there's a curvedbit of glass that's sort of
attached to the poles hoveringabout six inches off the grave.
We'll get a photo I don't knowhow to describe it. But it's
pretty incredible. And the factthat glass is so clean tells me
someone's looking after it wellas well. That is really unusual.
(27:14):
And
Chris (27:14):
some sort of transcription that follows.
Yeah,
Claire (27:18):
it goes all the way around the outside. Coming to
you now with a live GoogleTranslate Bob
Chris (27:25):
sweet until it starts writing. Right?
Claire (27:29):
Not sure Google Translate photos helping us out
on this. Love until it hurts. Itmakes more sense.
Chris (27:38):
go too far and strive. By force nor by wha
Claire (27:49):
it's bit tricky because the weight curves.
Chris (27:51):
Something about dishonor apparently. I don't
Claire (27:55):
believe that, it seems to some sort of like Comey.
Chris (27:58):
Yeah, I don't think my translate app is particularly
accurate.
Claire (28:06):
Two found a weird day.
Okay, so we've found a wall, asmall sort of triangular wall
was a big headstone in themiddle and there's just lots of
plaques with names on them. Tinylittle ones, just with literally
the name and the dates. And thenlots of flowers beneath that.
And then little stones that arepropped up on the ground, some
with photos on again names anddates. And at the top, it says
(28:29):
spread Meadow is thetranslation. And as Chris
pointed out, there's a big pieceof grass behind it that's sort
of cornered off
Chris (28:43):
is this broad meadow. So we reckon this
Claire (28:45):
is where people can spread ashes and then just have
a plaque put up for their fortheir loved one instead of
actually having the urn here
Chris (28:54):
in UBC. And then the middle of the grass, what looks
like a recent spreading of someashes.
Claire (29:00):
That's another option.
Chris (29:02):
There's just a little way to walk into it. So if you want
to spread the ashes just on thissection and put your name plaque
by the size of a name badge onthe wall, you can
Claire (29:18):
see, we were just leaving the graveyard and we
crossed the road and it was thisbig new yellow hold that had
some words on it. And we thoughtwhat's that? So we held up our
Google Translator camera and itsaid cemetery. So we crossed the
road and walk through the gap inthe wall which kind of went
round and it's all very welllandscaped beautiful walkway
with these lovely yellow stones.
It leads you into a middle bitwhere there's going to be a wall
(29:41):
or a water feature. And then youkeep going through more walls
and there's a new graveyard. Andthis is obviously where they're
burying people from now onwards,but you can already see the way
they're structured. It's goingto be pretty beautiful,
Chris (29:55):
very, very attractive.
Claire (29:58):
So obviously people who die From now onwards are being
basically planted again, beingburied in this new cemetery. But
yeah, it's beautiful the waythey're starting to landscape it
already, there's areas you cansee that are going to go in and
hedges that will curve around togive some privacy to those
graves. And there's also someareas of like concrete, they've
(30:18):
created the structure for newgrades to go in. And we can't
quite work out what that'sabout, because it looks like
it's all concrete.
Chris (30:25):
It's like a concrete grid. But elegantly done.
Whether they dig through theconcrete when they're putting a
coffee
Claire (30:35):
shop, I'll put some trades on the blog, so you can
see what we're talking about.
But yeah, it's really lovely.
And it goes out into open sortof countryside beyond. It's,
yeah, it's quite stunning. This,this feels like how, again,
Belgium would do something fromthe start, if they were starting
a new secretary, this has got alot of thought going into it.
It's not just oh, we've got afield, let's start burying
(30:57):
people, the whole structure ofit. And a lot of architects
design care, respect a lot ofrespect, that what they're
doing, the main
Chris (31:06):
thing you've got mentioned, is that there's two
standards with new watering cansand new token systems. So each
stand holds for watering cans.
And you can have them justgently in the wind. hollow
plastic knocking sounds is theauthentic artistic installation.
Claire (31:34):
And they were attached with the same trolley system we
put your coin in will get yourwatching, can you fill up at the
tap, and then you take it backagain. It's just genius. I'm
absolutely blown away by thissimple yet effective idea for
people not stealing wateringcans. So we're going to head
back to our accommodation now.
And try not to come across anyother cemeteries on the way get
distracted by. But yeah,overall, I'm very impressed with
(31:56):
the variety here. What's thething that sort of surprised you
the most about these twocemeteries?
Chris (32:02):
We'll see this year through the variety the
different styles, very littleuniformity, like you mentioned,
with the war Commonwealth WarGraves around us in this region,
which had just the pinnacle ofuniformity. And there seems to
be quite the opposite. Verydifferent styles very different
tributes lack of lack of tributeto many lots of photos,
Claire (32:26):
cuz even this new one, like I said, the graves are all
quite different again, but yetthey've also got that section
with the marble posts wherethey're obviously putting
people's ashes. They're all thesame. Quite regimented. Yeah,
it's interesting. The photos arethe thing I think stand out most
for me a lot of photos and verylittle words about the people
that have died sight. It's not apriority at all more about the
face than the story.
Chris (32:47):
You're the photo on your No, I
Claire (32:49):
don't want to. I haven't found a photo of me yet
that I would like on myheadstone to get
Chris (32:53):
choosing. If that changes me we'll do a photo shoot most
blue curtains behind us.
Claire (33:02):
I don't see.
Chris (33:03):
I welcome that.
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