St. Mary's Church and Cemetery, Ticehurst, East Sussex, United Kingdom

The memory of Eliza Sophia, wife of Colonel Hawes. The inscription is difficult to read, but I think it says that she died in 1885.

Ann, wife of Samuel Oyler.

The gate goes into the section for the children's graves. I decided to not enter it.

Last week I mentioned that I soon had to return to writing articles about my visit to the United States last year, but I wasn't sure whether I should cover my trips to Norwich and Vilnius first. Today I came to think about the fact that I wouldn't have too much time to blog before my trip to England the first weekend after Easter to attend the Royalty Weekend in Ticehurst. And then I realized that I hadn't written about my visit to St. Mary's Church and Cemetery yet. It would make sense to do that before my second visit to the village.

All the photos above were taken in April 2011 on a beautiful and sunny Spring day. I could only wish for similar weather this year around! When I entered the churchyard, I noticed that the church was also open, but decided to do the cemetery first. When I had finished my round, the church door was closed. Fortunately I will probably get the chance to make another visit next month. Maybe I will manage to take photos of the wild pheasants which were swaggering around the cemetery too. They ran away every time I got closer to them...

The present St. Mary's Church was constructed in the 14th century when it replaced an earlier church, which probably was of wood. More photos of the church - also from its interior - can be viewed at Roughwood.net and at Geolocation. An archaeological evulation was made at the church in 2006. A report can be read here.