Prestbury – Musings of a curious individual

Pressing on to Prestbury

On: 03/11/201701/01/2018 By: JA

When I originally photographed Prestbury Cemetery in Cheltenham in 2015 I did some reading about it and one name popped up that I stashed away “just in case”. That name was the Prestbury War Memorial and it sort of became famous after it was bit by car! Unfortunately the opportunity to find it did not happen until today as I had business to attend to in Cheltenham, so could really kill 13 birds with two stones. Very close to the memorial is the Parish Church of St Mary’s, and I would be an idiot if I missed visiting it while I was in the area.

From Clarence Street in Cheltenham I caught the “A” bus (gee, it is nice to have working bus services) that took me towards my destination, and the friendly bus driver set me off as close as he could to the church. That also happened to be next to the United Reformed Church which is a beauty in it’s own right.

Being Autumn the light is beautiful, although it really depends on how cloudy it is. On this particular trip it alternated between overcast and sunny and by the time I headed off for home I was overheated in my lightweight hoodie.

Left would take you to the church while right will take you into Prestbury village. I took the left path.

And there she is…

Like so many parish churches it is hard to date it because of the numerous restorations that have been done to the building, however the church appears to have been largely rebuilt in the 14th century when the north and south aisles were perhaps added to an earlier building. The church was so thoroughly restored in 1864–8 that the date of the medieval work is difficult to determine. (British History) . It is really very similar to many of the parish churches I have seen but it is no less beautiful. Fortunately I was able to access the church and my images do not really do it justice.

My camera tends to get confused with the available light so pics are usually hit or miss.

The Prestbury page at the Open Domesday Project may be found at http://opendomesday.org/place/SO9723/prestbury/ and this is what the entry looks like:

The war memorial inside the church is unlike any I have seen before, and it is really beautiful.

Unfortunately it is difficult to photograph it because of ambient light but I am sure the gist is there. That memorial must have taken a long time to create.

The church has quite a large churchyard, and there are six casualties buried in it, and I managed to find 5.

There are a lot of these wooden crosses in the cemetery, and I always thought they were found more in Orthodox churches, but for some reason this seems to be a regional thing in the churchyard. Irrespective though, I could not help but think of a flock of birds when I first saw these.

The weight of ages is heavy in this churchyard, and who knows how old the earliest burial may date from. From what I can see the churchyard is in use for limited burials, and the lack of space is what would have brought Prestbury Cemetery into use.

I did the obligatory circuit of the graveyard, but could not really form any opinion as to what is the oldest grave in it. These churchyards hold more than what is visible on the surface. It however a very nice graveyard with some really beautiful headstones.

Then it was time to leave this pretty place and head for the war memorial up the road. Past the local with its fine views of the churchyard.

and finally…

As war memorials go it is not really a big or fancy one, but it does tell the story of how many men lost their lives from this area which makes it an important part of the village. And, I hope on 11 November the people of this village will pay their respects to those who never came home. There are a number of names that match the graves in the churchyard close by, and this memorial really provides something tangible to those who were never able to see where their loved ones were buried.

The list of names may be found at Remembering.org.uk

Then it was time for me to head back to Prestbury Cemetery to try to find a grave that had evaded me the last time I had been there. It is a mere kilometre “down the road”, but that was much easier to deal with than my mammoth walk from Painswicke to Stroud last month.

Prestbury Cemetery is a beautiful cemetery to visit, it too is full of the history of this area and the people and families that lived nearby, and I am happy to say I found the grave I was missing, although it was quite a search. The one memorial in the cemetery that is really outstanding is the Gloucesters Memorial that is made up of the battlefield crosses from the graves of those who are buried in foreign fields. It is a very unique tribute that is in dire need of restoration.

And then it was time to head to town to deal with the business I had to attend to. It was a long day and I covered a lot of ground. Many of my goals were achieved, and others were not. But Prestbury is in the bag, but who knows whether I will ever go their again.

Finding the Fallen: Prestbury, Cheltenham

On: 18/07/201531/12/2017 By: JA

The nice thing about moving to a new city is that there are new cemeteries to explore, and Cheltenham was no exception. They have a large cemetery very close to the city centre called Prestbury, and it was to this cemetery that I wended my way on the 18th of January.

There are 181 CWGC burials in the cemetery, as well as 28 Crematorium mentions, so I would have my work cut out for me if I wanted to grab most of the graves. Naturally I would be on the look out for the Angel population and of course anything that would grab my interest.

I had a feeling that the cemetery was a big one, it certainly looked like it on Google Earth, so I was not quite sure what I would find. The Lodge is just inside the main gate and it was now privately owned like so many other cemetery lodges.

The map was interesting, because it showed the curves that were popular before the bean counters took over, and I suspected there was a mix of old and really old graves, with the more modern iterations moving away from the main gate.

The first military encounter I made was with the Gloucesters Memorial, and it is really a step back in time. The memorial comprising original crosses erected over the graves of men who were killed on the battle fields. Unfortunately the crosses were painted brown and that has really made them look less than historic. If anything they should have been varnished and left as they were originally. Most of the inscriptions are no longer legible either, which is really a pity.

And then we were off…. list clutched in my hands and shutter finger cocked. It was quite a warm day and the sun kept on coming and going which really messed with my photography. Just inside the gates is the Cross of Sacrifice, and the all crucial split that dictates how much of the cemetery you will get to see. I decided to head left because there was a CWGC grave on that side.

This was a Roman Catholic area, and it was in this area where I encountered the first angel statue. and it was the first of many. Prestbury has an impressive collection of oldies and new versions, and most were in a very good condition.

In fact that was one thing that impressed me about this cemetery, it was clean, well maintained, with very little sign of vandalism or neglect. Unfortunately though I did find that legibility on the headstones was not great, which was a pity because there were quite a few very impressive family stones.

And then there is the chapel building….

I have seen a number of these in my travels, and I think the one at Prestbury outdoes them all. It is a spectacular building, in an excellent condition, and as beautiful as any church could be. Unfortunately I could not access the two chapels or the crematorium in it, but I spent quite a bit of time photographing the gargoyles and stonework of it.

I worked my way towards the back of the cemetery, crossing off names as I went. There was a small Australian plot close to the chapels and it did make walking the rows much easier.

But most of my graves were individuals scattered throughout and consequently I covered a lot of ground although I did not really concentrate too much on the thousands of graves all around me.

At some point I reached the boundary between 1950 and upwards, and it was unlikely that I would find any CWGC graves after that and started sweeping my way across the cemetery. It was really a pleasure to work this cem because I did not have to concentrate on not falling into a hole too much. The beauty of good maintenance is that my life was much easier.

My list was also shrinking and it was about time to find the cremations that were mentioned on the CWGC website. There were also three graves mentioned on the cemetery plans, but they were not historic in the way I would have liked. There are 5 VC graves in the cemetery, and I picked up the plaque for one of them, although I was not specifically hunting for them. At some point I probably will, but this was not the day.

In fact I was starting to get tired, and home was looking more like an option. I started weaving my way towards the exit, although I really wanted to look at the Gardens of Remembrance before I left.

It was a very pretty area, and I considered that if I pop my clogs one fine day this would be a suitable place to end up. Where do I sign? Unfortunately I did not find my missing crem plaque, but with hindsight I was looking in the wrong area. One more thing to do on a return visit.

Behind the Gardens of Remembrance is the Ukranian Memorial

And that pretty much was the last image I took. Unfortunately the 21 graves I am missing are probably PM’s so finding them is going to be very difficult, so I cannot completely mentally tick off this cemetery. One day I will be back.

And I am confident that the visit will be enjoyable because this is a very enjoyable cemetery to walk.

Update: 08/08/2015

Yesterday I revisited Prestbury to find the 5 Victoria Cross graves in the cemetery and clear some of the missing CWGC graves. I managed to find 13 more, and understand a bit more about how the cemetery is numbered, although I am still puzzled about where some of the graves are.

A dash off to Cheltenham

On: 05/07/201531/12/2017 By: JA

Yesterday I did a fast trip to Cheltenham, it is probably where I will end if I cannot find a place to live locally. It is not too far away, about 45 minutes with the number 41 bus. Unfortunately the usual Clarence Street bus terminal was closed so I ended up not quite where I wanted to be.

The church is the Catholic Church of St Gregory the Great and it seems to follow the pattern of a number of very similar churches that I have seen elsewhere. It was closed, but I did remind myself to check whether it was open on my way back, it was also a handy landmark to for the bus stop. I had no real destination in mind yet so as it was really about taking a look around and seeing the city and where the amenities are.

I headed towards Clarence street anyway, passing an old fire station,

and the library

As you can see it was somewhat of a gray day, although there were at least 4 changes to that as the day progressed, the library is on my list for a rephotograph though, it is a stunning building, but not that easy to get a complete image of.

My next encounter was with Cheltenham Minster, St Mary’s. and it had the only graveyard that I saw in Cheltenham during my visit. Again it is one of those places that you cannot get a decent image of because of where it sits. In this case trees obscured any semi decent shot that you could take of the church.

I emerged into Clarence Street somehow, and it was kind of quiet, so I went for a quick breakfast while I mapped out a viewing of a potential living place.

This was probably the main shopping area, and it had a nice mix of old and new buildings in it, definitely worth looking at on my way back.

By now I was just walking, and of course looking for the War Memorial, which I found outside the Municipal Offices which are magnificent.

and for some strange reason their is a fountain depicting Neptune, and it was built in 1893.

Continuing with my meanderings I spotted The Queen’s hotel, dating from 1838.

Outside the building is the remaining plinth from a Crimean War Memorial, it once held a pair canon which had been captured at Sebastopol. At the base of the plinth it still says ‘Taken at Sebastopol’, but in April 1942 both guns were recycled as armaments.

I had also spotted this very ecclesiastical looking building and had intended walking around it to investigate what it was.
There was evidence of a church in the building as witnessed by the gargoyles and statues around it.

It turns out that the whole block is more or less Cheltenham Ladies’ College. It is a magnificent wedding cake of a collage, but the odds of getting into that chapel are non-existent..

It was time to head off for my viewing and leave this part of town behind. There was not too much to see on my walk, although I did grab a pic of the Holy Trinity Church

It looked like a very grim building, but apparently it has one of the larger congregations in the UK.

My viewing completed, I headed back towards town and had my sights on trying to find Cheltenham Spa Railway Station, which curiously enough was not in the town centre. On my way I came across the really stunning Christ Church, which seemed way too big for the small space it occupied.

The church dates to the 1830’s and must have seemed very impressive at the time as it would have dominated the surrounding area, today it is really a large church on a small stand. Also close by was this beauty which was yet another care home.

And of course this one which may be part of the Ladies College

Eventually though, I found my goal, and the station proved to be somewhat of a damp squib. Unfortunately I was not able to get down to platform level.

It was getting to be time to head home, and I turned back towards town, finding this really nice bridge along the way.

From there it was a matter of navigating back to High Street Close and my bus back to Tewkesbury. And, as usual, I shall leave some random images behind. It is entirely possible that I will revisit this page as I am not quite done in Cheltenham, a return visit has to happen at some point.

The local cemetery is called Prestbury, and it is where I went next.