St Peter & St Paul’s, Boughton on Blean, Kent. copyright Carole Tyrrell.

Yes dear readers, It is 9 years to the day since I began shadowsflyaway on a wing and a prayer having no idea of how to do a blog but jumped in both feet first anyway. It’s been an interesting 9 years as I have explored the byways, churches, churchyards and cemeteries of Kent and London’s cemeteries looking for symbols.

However, I never know what to expect when I open a church door. For a start, will it be open? And what awaits? Tiptoeing past champers still asleep – these are people camping out overnight in a church. Being dazzled by a glittering pavement of medieval brasses at St Mary Magdalene, Cobham or a brass sign on a wall at St Peter & St Paul at Headcorn from Philadelphia commemorating that their ancestors had originated from the village. I love exploring churchyards and so far the oldest markers I have found dated back to the medieval period.

The headstone on the card above was the happy result of being misdirected by a passing dog walker. I was looking for St Mary the Virgin in Selling Kent. It was in the middle of nowhere as was St Peter and St Paul’s in Boughton in Blean. A lot of Kent churches are in isolated spots but it keeps me fit. I tramped past hop fields and a few houses here and there and then found it on top of a small hill, its surrounding churchyard almost climbing up to the church. It was as pretty a churchyard as you could wish to find with some ancient tombstones poking up through the vegetation which was part of ‘God’s Own Acre’, an initiative to leave churchyards unmown to encourage wildlife. I ate my lunch overlooking hop fields.

I found this one under a tree. If you look closely you may be able to see an hourglass, a long bone and a spade as in the close-up below.

St Peter & St Paul’s, Boughton on Blean, Kent. copyright Carole Tyrrell

There is a corpse road nearby situated on the golf course so I am determined to find it as I’ve never walked on one. These were for transporting bodies, often from remote communities, to cemeteries that had burial rights such as parish churches and chapels of ease. The roads have long fallen out of use but may have just have become footpaths. But this is the first time I may have a chance to walk on one. There are many legends associated with them involving ghosts and spirits and the living were not supposed to walk on the pathway of the dead.

So here’s to 9 years of shadowsflyaway – thank you to my readers for your company! I really appreciate your likes and comments and let’s look forward to 2025 when shadowsflyaway will be 10 years old.

Text and photos copyright Carole Tyrrell unless otherwise stated