Church’s tombstone pathway is a ‘grave error’, say villagers
AN HISTORIC church is facing anger from locals after using some of its gravestones to build a “peace path”, which features poetry from young people.
Clophill Heritage Trust, which manages St Mary’s Church in Clophill, Beds, has come under criticism for laying gravestones from the ancient churchyard flat.
The trust said that the stones, which now form a section of the “Poetry and Peace Path”, were moved from their original sites in the Sixties.
However, locals have branded the move as “disrespectful” to villagers whose loved ones have been affected, but were not informed of the change.
Many took to the Facebook page of BBC Three Counties Radio to express their outrage.
One man said: “This is a grave error bearing in mind the villagers were not consulted and many are in uproar after only finding out about it yesterday.”
Charles Albinson-currey, 30, posted: “Utterly disrespectful. My mother, grandmother and father are all buried up there. No consultancy was done and I am absolutely furious about this.”
He said: “I feel it is disrespectful, that is someone else’s family that you are essentially walking over.
“My relatives have been buried up there for a long time.”
But others were more open to the idea, praising it as a “great use of semi-historic bits of stone” and a nice way to remember “the wonderful people buried there years ago.”
As a scheduled historic monument, the disused 14th century church attracts hundreds of visitors because of its reputation as a haunted site.
After being reset around the perimeter of the churchyard during the Sixties, the ancient stones have become an increasingly easy target for anti-social behaviour.
The trust “sought professional advice regarding the best way forward” and were advised to lay the gravestones flat.
Clophill Heritage Trust said: “Churches regularly reuse old gravestones where the inscription is no longer visible, and we have followed best practice by recording which stones have been placed where.”
A remembrance garden is also expected to be planted along the path.