Memento Mori: Churches and Churchyards of England

by Simon Marsden

Simple stone gravestones, richly carved table tombs and glowing stained glass memorial windows are part of the rich heritage to be found in England's churches and churchyards. They all mark the irrevocable certainty of death and seem to proclaim 'Memento Mori' - 'Remember you are mortal'. The quintessence of the English churchyard and its memorials has been beautifully captured by Simon Marsden who presents the results of his recent tour of the country in this new book. He has selected his personal favourites and the atmospheric illustrations are accompanied by a lively and informative text, as well as excerpts of prose and poetry. Simon Marsden has gained an international reputation for his evocative black and white photographs but for this book he has also taken colour images which provide a new and intriguing perspective.

Genres: British Literature

176 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memento Mori

I’ve always been a huge fan of Sir Simon Marsden’s work and ‘Memento Mori’ is a sumptuous book of his wonderful images. It has the high production values that you associate with English Heritage as it was then and Marsden’s haunting black and white photos.
This is a book about memorials – the book’s title is Latin for ‘Remember you must die’ - and on the inside book jacket blurb it says that Marsden has ‘always been fascinated by English churches and churchyards and their funeral art and monuments.’ This is his personal selection of photos.
The ones that he has selected are incredible – I really had no idea what hidden gems were hidden behind a church door in a country village Marsden laments in the book’s introduction that ..’so many churches have to be permanently locked to preserve their valuable contents from thieves and vandals. Alarms and CCTV cameras are attached to the walls where classical statues and medieval saints once stared down.’ He is concerned that, due to dwindling congregations, ‘many of our historic churches now lie empty and derelict, their graveyards overgrown and their magnificent works of art in decay.’ These words were written in 2007 before the recession so how much worse are things now?
Each stunning photo is accompanied by an appropriate quotation or poem. These include classics from Dickens, Emily Bronte and poems by Poe, John Clare, Emily Dickinson and Edna St Vincent Millay with quotations from Munch, Proust and Shakespeare.
The photos are a mixture of black and white and colour – very effective with stained glass. – and all the locations are identified. There are also a few photos taken in cemeteries in Marsden’s trademark infra-red style with a short paragraph and these included the dramatic Angel of Death from East Sheen Cemetery.
Some of the memorials looked a little spooky – the seated male angel on the Charles Sackville monument is looked directly at the reader as if to say: ‘Yes – did you want something?’’ Others are very grand and imposing especially the one dedicated to Mary, Duchess of Montagu, the wall monument to James Vaulx, a physician, his 2 wives and 14 children(!) and the gorgeous image of a sleeping child dedicated to a little girl who died aged 2 which features on the book’s cover. But there are just too many masterpieces to mention in this review. A lovely selection that made me think of exploring churches further afield.
I’ve never thought that images such as Marsden’s as morbid as death can also be a celebration of life, a reminder to make the most of what you have left. Also that the people to whom these memorials were dedicated were loved and missed by those they left behind.
Funerary symbols have always fascinated me as they are often the final message of the departed to the world so this book was of special interest, I shared Marsden’s delight and surprise of what is waiting in our churches on a visit to Knebworth where their on-site church had an unexpected treasure in the Lytton Room.

[grace saint · Rating 4 out of 5]

p87 & p92

"People for not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. it is as though they were travelling abroad." - marcel proust

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Dirge Without Music" from The Buck in the Snow and Other Poems. 1928

[Claudia Loureiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have an interest in eerie, atmospheric, black and white photography then you'll love this book. If you're already a fan of Simon Marsden then you know what to expect; photos of mysterious splendour on glossy pages, complete with Simon's experiences and the stories behind the places he visited.

[Helena Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-researched, flawless by the legend Simon Marsden who grew up in a haunted house and who has always gifted us with beautiful glimpses of the Otherworld. A favourite, much like all his other works to be treasured forever

[Loren · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book by Simon Marsden on cemeteries? How could that possibly lose? After I enjoyed Marsden's Ghosthunter and The Haunted Realm, I expected to adore this book. Unfortunately, it suffers in comparison to the other two. Rather than focusing on tombstones and funeral monuments, the photos include stained glass, which depends more on the glassmaker's artistry than Marsden's photography. I wanted more focus and less inclusiveness, I guess. That said, there are still some amazing photos within.

The real disappointment in the book is the text. Rather than Marsden's adventures in the churches he visits or any sort of historical grounding for the images, the text ranges from quotes from MacBeth ("out, out brief candle") to snatches of poetry to passages from Dickens to a historical morsel now and then. Sometimes the text has to do with the image it accompanies, but often it doesn't.

How disappointing. I guess I won't be haring off to Amazon to buy another book just because it has Marsden's name on it.