St. Laurence in Thanet, the Churchyard.

 

As promised in my last blog, this blog is about the churchyard attached to St. Laurence Church in Ramsgate, which is an amazing place to visit. You will see that a lot of the three and a half acre churchyard appears very overgrown, this is deliberate, as the site has been managed as a natural site to encourage the wildlife. Because of this natural state it is very atmospheric, the sort of churchyard that speaks of history. There are over 1400 graves, some of which date back to 1656.

Grave stones peeping through the long grass.

A tidier part of the site.

I joined my friends Pat and Shaun on one the regular churchyard tours back in June, and had a lovely Saturday morning exploring the site.

There are a number of famous people buried in the churchyard, these include the grave of Sir William Garrow 1760 – 1840, who was responsible for the legal premise that ‘an accused person is innocent until proven guilty.’

Very worn cherubs on one of the memorials.

Amazing fungi growing on one of the trees.

There is also a memorial to Dr John Collis Browne, a British Army Officer, who is famous for inventing  chlorodyne, as a treatment for cholera. Collis Browne Mixture is, I think, still available, and has been used for treating coughs, upset stomachs and diarrhoea.

Beautiful memorials.

At the rear of the churchyard is D'Este Mausoleum, containing the coffins of six members of the D’Este family. The mausoleum is not open, but our guide for the morning showed us a photo of the interior, with the memorials still in place.

The D’Este Mausoleum.

AQ carving on the D’Este Mausoleum.

There are also several mass graves in the churchyard, dating from the Napoleonic Wars.

 

The whole churchyard, and of course the Church is well worth a visit, not only is it a very beautiful place, it is also steeped in history

The Church of St. Laurence, Ramsgate, Kent.

The Church of St Laurence, as seen from the Churchyard.

The Church of St. Laurence in Thanet, is the ‘old’ parish church of Ramsgate. It started as a Chapel which was attached to the nearby Minster Abbey. The earliest part of the Church is believed to have been built in 1062, with many alteration over the centuries.

The interesting part of the interior for me was the beautiful stained glass windows, which you will see some examples of here. I did take other interior photos, but it was a dull day, and both my friend Pat and I were slightly disappointed with the photos. We need to go back again another day!

The interior has a mixture of Norman, Early English and Victorian architecture, and is a beautiful church.

The Churchyard, which is about 3 1/2 acres is of as much importance as the Church, so I have decided to do a separate blog just on the amazing Churchyard.