Memorials

[Toddy]

You know what could be done ? How about planting hedgerows ? Hedgerows of the understorey trees and shrubs, along side a decently cambered dry pathway.
Maybe restore old holloways, the old by foot drove roads, and line them with hedges, and instead of flailing them tidy, folks could learn to work along the hedges and coppice and make them properly. Better than plastic flowers at a graveyard and the work's good for folks too.
Wonderful habitats are good hedges, could grow some honeysuckly and eglantines up through it spring bulbs at the base.

There's a pleasant walk for folks, a memorial way, if you like, rich in life That would cheer up even the grieving.
I'd quite happily end up under a hedge

 

[JonathanD]

Planting trees is the best way to go. Natives in the right environment. Could live for centuries, or even millennia. What could be more befitting than that.

 

[TeeDee]

Planting trees is the best way to go. Natives in the right environment. Could live for centuries, or even millennia. What could be more befitting than that.

This is what i've considered for some time now , buying a piece of land and over time allowing at small cost people to be interred upon for a small pro-rata fee.

Would be nice to safeguard the future of British Woodland in one final act

 

[Kadushu]

My fear is that nothing is guaranteed to be safe for centuries or even decades. If someone with enough money/political power wants to build a road, railway, housing estate or whatever where your "grave tree" is located then it's game over.

 

[Nice65]

My fear is that nothing is guaranteed to be safe for centuries or even decades. If someone with enough money/political power wants to build a road, railway, housing estate or whatever where your "grave tree" is located then it's game over.

We’re going off topic with regards to the OP, but Highways England are still pushing ahead with the Stonehenge tunnel, and the HS2 railway has already involved the exhumation of 60,000 bodies in Euston, 6,500 at Curzon in Birmingham, and another 3000 in Buckinghamshire.

I‘m about to take the dogs out, I’ll take a pic of the little memorial on the top of The Downs that annoys me.

 

[pieinthesky]

I am generally OK with this sort of thing, particularly by the road where there has been a fatal accident.
If it makes people feel better, it is OK with me, If it makes people think and drive more carefully, that's a bonus

One memorial plaque that I do object to is on the front of a local community centre, remembering the little scroat that fell through the skylight while trying to break in. Should be a Darwin award not a memorial!

 

[Nice65]

Plastic flowers apart from the ones in pots.

Pittosporum amongst a mix of Dogwood, Yew etc

And as it should be, young Junipers in tree guards on the hill.

 

[Broch]

I've been analysing my feelings about it and, despite feeling slightly guilty, to me, it's no better than graffiti - sorry.

'Baz Wos Ere' type of thing!

 

[Wander]

Ooo, dear!
I'd like to see you sit down and explain that to the family who've left something to remember the dear old dad they've just lost who loved taking a walk in his favourite spot.
Best of luck with that.

 

[Broch]

Exactly, I realise that - that's why I feel guilty. But for one person 'who loved that spot' there are hundreds more who still want to love that spot and, to me, one person's memorial takes away a lot of what they may feel about that spot.

We will soon be over 70 million people on this island, how many beauty spots are there that will be 'marked, by one out of many that enjoyed 'that spot'?

 

[Wander]

Hmm, yeah.
But that doesn't mean everyone will do that.
Truth is, I'd rather see a small memorial or memento marking a spot where someone once walked with a loved one, a sign of their engagement with nature and landscape and the place it has in their hearts and memories, than see dog walkers and mountain bikers (who may not leave anything other than muddy tracks) who treat nature as their own personal theme park with no engagement with the environment around them.
Ideally, of course, no one would go into the countryside and they'd leave it entirely for me to enjoy in the correct way, eh?

 

[swyn]

For those who may visit East Anglia there is the pretty town of Southwold which has its very own pier.
No, not a Victorian monster like Yarmouth or Brighton, just a pleasant little pier. Along the tops of the side-railings are small brass plaques either in memory of a lost loved one or a romance that started at the seaside on the pier or simply fond memories of holidays in the area. I love a wander along, reading the notes and I do this each time I visit. Each visit is different and it is charming to read the inscriptions with some being quite emotive.
Not forgetting the icing on the cake which is Tim Hunkin’s ‘Under the Pier Show’ which is a lovely and fun topping to any memorial.

I’m not a fan of remote countryside spots being turned into memorials as I believe it converts the remoteness into something rather tacky.
S

 

[Nice65]

Ooo, dear!
I'd like to see you sit down and explain that to the family who've left something to remember the dear old dad they've just lost who loved taking a walk in his favourite spot.
Best of luck with that.

I‘d like that type of learning. Plant a Juniper, place a woodspirit or green man carving, explain it properly and educate. There’s no need for plastic flowers or planting things that don’t fit the environment the lover of their favourite spot enjoyed because they loved it because it didn’t have these things in it.

I‘ll do a different walk tomorrow and take a pic of a brass plaque nailed into a Beech. Beech are thin barked trees, most of what is beneath the surface is live tissue. It’s by no means as offensive as the uneducated leaving plastic and planting the wrong plants, I’d almost rather see a ‘he loves her’ bark cut graffiti to be honest.

 

[forrestdweller]

slightly off topic, but this thread brought back some memories of a trip in northern Australia, south of Darwin: i went twice to explore an area which is technically "off limits" and where feral pigs (and native animals) just stared at me without any expression of fear despite the popularity of pig hunting, not running away at all... first time i went there was at the end of the wet season, when the speargrass was still standing 8ft tall, second time was a few years later in the middle of the dry season after the grass had burned away. second trip i walked past a 3ft tall steel cross with the name "Barry Croker" on it (no date etc. but it looked like it was there for many years) , first trip i just have literally walked past it without knowing it was there -- never found out what happened...

along the road i can accept a small memorial for someone who died in an accident, but out in nature i don't think it's necessary (unless a native shrub/ tree maybe...)

 

[swyn]

slightly off topic, but this thread brought back some memories of a trip in northern Australia, south of Darwin: i went twice to explore an area which is technically "off limits" and where feral pigs (and native animals) just stared at me without any expression of fear despite the popularity of pig hunting, not running away at all... first time i went there was at the end of the wet season, when the speargrass was still standing 8ft tall, second time was a few years later in the middle of the dry season after the grass had burned away. second trip i walked past a 3ft tall steel cross with the name "Barry Croker" on it (no date etc. but it looked like it was there for many years) , first trip i just have literally walked past it without knowing it was there -- never found out what happened...

along the road i can accept a small memorial for someone who died in an accident, but out in nature i don't think it's necessary (unless a native shrub/ tree maybe...)

I’d put money on that perhaps today nobody could remember who Barry Crocker was.
In Nevil Shute’s book Beyond the Black Stump he wrote about a spot called The Chinamans Grave being a place folk knew but had no idea the who, why or what it had in relation to the Chinaman!

 

[Kadushu]

I wonder what will be looked upon by people in the distant future as an interesting or poignant relic of our era in the way that we might regard old buildings or standing stones. Maybe a little brass plaque with quaint archaic English will be an intriguing find for an archeologist. A pleasant change from polystyrene cups and face masks.

 

[Tengu]

I have seen several that intregued me, (like the one in the picture) but others are just vandalism.

why fairy doors?

No one believes in fairies, do they?

They went out with Enid Blyton.

(I know kids these days still believe in Enid Blyton...and more power to them).

 

[forrestdweller]

I’d put money on that perhaps today nobody could remember who Barry Crocker was.
In Nevil Shute’s book Beyond the Black Stump he wrote about a spot called The Chinamans Grave being a place folk knew but had no idea the who, why or what it had in relation to the Chinaman!

none of my friends in the area (lots of them "old timers" and sadly most of them gone...) had heard of the name...

there's another area nearby to which one of my friends (gone in 2006 and first european settler in the area) referred to as "chinese vegetable garden" as in the early days chinese grew vegetables there and transported them to Darwin - - all i found exploring was a small piece of porcelain.... the same friend had an external fuel tank of a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighter in his garden which was dropped during the bombing of Darwin -- it went missing after he passed away....

 

[swyn]

none of my friends in the area (lots of them "old timers" and sadly most of them gone...) had heard of the name...

there's another area nearby to which one of my friends (gone in 2006 and first european settler in the area) referred to as "chinese vegetable garden" as in the early days chinese grew vegetables there and transported them to Darwin - - all i found exploring was a small piece of porcelain.... the same friend had an external fuel tank of a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighter in his garden which was dropped during the bombing of Darwin -- it went missing after he passed away....

I came accross marks/plaques on my travels, usually telling that a number of people died in this very spot due to lack of water! Being 'Frightfully British' the stiff-upper-lip attitude prevailed in that there was a complete disregard to how the natives survived in such a challenging place. It was quite an interesting emotion to be in the same spot where pioneers had perished and then continue on ones journey with enough water and fuel to get to the next stop, less than 100 years on!
I think it was along The Burke Highway but memory fades.
I met some 'characters' as well. Good memories eh.
I struggled in Darwin with the 40 degree heat, just servicing my bike was hard for a non heat lover so I didn't linger. New chain & sprockets, a rear tyre and an oil change then onwards.
If you like a read. Try 'A fortunate Life' by A B Facey. To us it may not have been so fortunate.......Different generations have different perspectives. Still a good read though.
S

 

[forrestdweller]

two other memorials coming to my mind are on a remote spot on the western australian coast: the first was a small stone cairn (iirc) with a plaque on it in memory of four guys killed by a freak wave whilst fishing of the rocks -- which also can help to prevent future tragedies...
second memorial was nearby: a silhouette of the HMAS "Sydney II" at the place where crew members of the "Kormoran" landed in a lifeboat (this was in early 2006 and the wreck of the HMAS SydneyII wasn't found, yet)

i did not consider either memorial out of place, especially given the impact of the HMAS Sydney II's loss on Australia with all crew members (except one who's wasn't on board iirc) during the war and the circumstances of her disappearance...