In April, I popped over to Amersham. Its a place which I have read about quite frequently but never had a chance to visit. In particular, while reading about Amersham, came across the name of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the UK way back in 1955. She was buried here and I wanted to find her grave.
Parked the car and went to find the graveyard. What a lovely looking tree.
Mossy tree trunks. 
The grounds are manicured to an inch of their lives, lol. Lovely
I could see the graveyard on the right, with this rather sad looking bridge. Come on folks, you have a wonderfully old village here and then you plonk this horrendous eye sore of a bridge? 
See this brick bridge? bah
Couple of very curious trees on the left. 
A lovely little church in the background. But I turn into the graveyard. 
A lovely little white flowering tree gently shedding its flowers and shadow over the graves
A little angel watching over the sleeping person. 
Very old graves, the surface is sloughing off. 
More gravestones. 
Some of them with ivy growing on them. 
These are the familiar commonwealth graves commission stone markers for soldiers and other members of the commonwealth armed forces who died in the service of their country. Brave men. 
A fleur de lis? A French grave? No markers anywhere.
Couple of Celtic crosses on the left, one of them has sunk far inside the ground. 
Gravestones all over the place. This is what saddens me. How soon memories fade. After 60-70 years, graves are no longer tended. Nobody remembers you generally. Only famous graves are tended but generally? no, and then you see gravestones and grave markers all helter skelter. 
A large crucifix with carved ivy and an bollix. 
A simple grave
The cemetery is built on the bottom of a hill and you can see how it is built on a series of gently rolling steps. 
Lofts
A simple grave with the word Mother on it.
The graveyard overlooks a very peaceful vista of trees and rolling meadows. 
Some poppies
A very old grave, dating back to the WW2 times. 
Looking back at the graveyard. 
Another brave soldier. 
Polish people have a long connection with England…
Another soldier’s grave
Couple of grave markers.
I couldn't find the grave of Ruth Ellis. I was feeling a bit disappointed till I read the wiki entry which I quote:
Ellis was buried in an unmarked grave within the walls of Holloway Prison, as was customary for executed prisoners. In the early 1970s the prison underwent an extensive programme of rebuilding, during which the bodies of all the executed women were exhumed for reburial elsewhere. Ellis's body was reburied at St Mary's Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. The headstone in the churchyard was inscribed "Ruth Hornby 1926–1955". Her son, Andy, destroyed the headstone shortly before he committed suicide in 1982. Ellis's grave is now overgrown with yew trees.
Very sad indeed, but the cemetery spoke to me, its a lovely little place with loads of memories.
8 comments:
You say you did not find the grave, but you took a photo of it. She is buried to the right of the "fleur de lis" grave.
Hello Tony E. What makes you so sure that this is the place where our Ruth is buried?
Thank you.
Sorry Tony. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is David and i am the son of one of Ruths old friends..
Thank you.
David.
David,
Tony is right. I have an old picture of her grave with its headstone before it was destroyed.
If you compare the remaining headstones with those in the original picture it places her grave between the "Fleur de Lys" grave and the wall.
Hi David thank you for leaving you post on where Ruth Ellis's grave is we spent a whole afternoon trying to find it. We then came home and did some research and found your post. We placed some flowers and a small angel to right of the Fleur de Lys roughly where we thought she was buried.
Michael and Shirley
Hi David,
Thank you for leaving the post on where Ruth Ellis is buried, we spent a whole afternoon trying to find it. We came home and did some research and found your post. We laid some flowers and an angel roughly where she was buried between the Fleur de Lys and the wall.
Many thanks Michael and Shirley
I googled about Ruth after reading her story in Crimes of Passion, True Crimes. My heart goes out to her,Andy n her daughter too.. Blakely got what he'd asked for.
I read about Ruth in Crimes of Passion. My heart goes out to her, Andy n her daughter too. Blakely deserved it but Ruth didnt.
Post a Comment