Churchyards Rising: The Surprising Depth of History | August 26 2024, 20:42

From the book “At Home” by Bill Bryson:

“…Have you ever noticed,” asked Brian as we entered the churchyard, “that country churches almost always seem to have sunk into the ground?”

I admitted that I had never thought about it.

“It’s not that the church itself is sinking,” he continued. “It’s just that the churchyard has risen. How many people do you think are buried here?”

I glanced at the gravestones and responded, “I don’t know. Eighty? A hundred?”

“I think that’s quite a modest estimate,” said Brian with good-natured imperturbability. “Think about it. In a rural community like this one [Norfolk. – my note], there are usually about 250 inhabitants. That’s roughly a thousand adult deaths per century, plus several thousand more of those poor souls who didn’t reach adulthood. Multiply that by the number of centuries the church has been here, and you’re not looking at eighty or a hundred burials, but likely something around twenty thousand.”