Take a walk round St Peter’s churchyard. Today it is just a rather tired-looking expanse of grass, dotted with headstones. But our speaker for November, our own Andrew Warren, showed us a different view.
This fascinating talk by someone who has clearly made it his business to look beyond what is immediately obvious, offered us a wealth of facts and photographs and showed us what an important place this once occupied in the lives of Belgravians.
One of the first things to notice in this churchyard is its ecology, what is growing there. A survey by the City Council identified more than fifty different trees, plants and grasses, and all in just two hours! The botanists spotted a wild strawberry, not unusual until you realise that it had yellow flowers instead of the more common white.
By far the most obvious features in the churchyard are the headstones and the much smaller footstones. Andrew has studied the different materials used to create headstones and how to recognise each type of stone and where in the country it originated. In Victorian times pictures were often carved on headstones, and Andrew explained why they were there and the symbolism they represented.
The people buried around St Peter’s all have some connection to Belgrave, either local-born or just passing through. Here lies George Harrison, not a Beatle, of course, but the man who shaped a lot of what we can still see locally – think of Harrison Road.
Andrew talked about seafaring Belgravians, such as the captain who did not like the name of the street he lived in (Backside) and campaigned successfully to change its name to that of his ship – Claremont.
The wife of a local church minister was laid to rest here, but not before he was involved in a scandal!
There are many more stories to be told about St Peter’s churchyard and Andrew hinted that these may be stories to be told at another time. So, watch this space! Thanks Andy for a great talk.
