Life's journey's end for Jane Betsy, Emma Jane and Joseph


This story started in Tunstall in 1991 and ended here thirty two years later. I emerged from Stoke Newington station in the pouring rain to walk the wet pavements, and avoid the splashes from the flooded crossings, to explore Abney Park Cemetery. As I was early for my appointment I explored gingerly, for the paths were loamy, puddled and slippery. Where among the bare trees and ivy-clad hidden gothic-style memorials would I find what I was looking for? I met up with Haydn who works for Abney Park and Hackney Council. My expectations were low. I thought she might have located a ruinous concealed memorial and together, we would clear the ivy and weeds to try to decipher what was written. I was wrong. Haydn and her colleagues are working on clearing and researching the memorials. They had cleared the way and tidied the tomb of my ancestors. I had not expected it.   

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