St Mary’s Church in Clophill, Bedfordshire, has been accused by local community members of making a ‘grave error’ by using ancient tombstones as a footpath.
BBC news writes:
The trust that manages St Mary’s Church in Clophill, Bedfordshire, said it came from ‘professional advice’ on saving the gravestones for the future.
Clophill Heritage Trust said the stones, which now form part of the Poetry and Peace Path, had already moved from original sites in the 1960s. Church Society vice president Alison Ruoff called the path ‘brilliant’.
The gravestones are understood to all be more than 100 years old and a remembrance garden will be planted along the path. The trust said the stones continued to be ‘a target for anti-social behaviour’ despite being moved around the perimeter of the church in the 1960s…
But a number of people commented about the ‘disgraceful’ and ‘disrespectful’ path on the BBC Three Counties Radio Facebook page…
‘Churches regularly reuse old gravestones where the inscription is no longer visible, and we have followed best practice by recording which stones have been placed in each location,’ it said. ‘The Poetry and Peace Path was seen to be the most appropriate and positive way of keeping and denoting respect for the flat stones without inscriptions.’
