The Gallery of Lost Souls 011 - "1915"

 What is the Gallery of Lost Souls? 

It's a collections of photographs where I have very little information on the subjects or locations. These are photographs or slides that have come from eBay auctions or from a shop and don't have owners anymore. Am I searching for the subjects? Not really - the chances of finding the people is non-existent and finding descendants will be almost impossible. If you found out this was one of your friends or relatives that would be great and I'd love to reunite the photograph with the family but the aim is more to show these pictures as a window into another time that is now lost. 

The Gallery of Lost Souls 010 - "Veronica"

What is the Gallery of Lost Souls? 

It's a collections of photographs where I have very little information on the subjects or locations. These are photographs or slides that have come from eBay auctions or from a shop and don't have owners anymore. Am I searching for the subjects? Not really - the chances of finding the people is non-existent and finding descendants will be almost impossible. If you found out this was one of your friends or relatives that would be great and I'd love to reunite the photograph with the family but the aim is more to show these pictures as a window into another time that is now lost. 

 

St.Augustine's Church, Brookland, Romney Marsh, Kent.

 St. Augstine's Church is a Grade I listed Anglican church in Brookland Village. It was orginally build around 1250 and has an unusal feature as its bell tower is separate from the rest of the church. There is evidence of a church being here in Saxon times and that Brookland belonged to Edward Coombe around 997 - he gave the manor to St. Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury as he son was a monk there. 

The graveyard is home to the remains of Captain Adolphe Richard "Dick" Cooperwho was born in 1899 in Baghdad, Iraq. He was a secret agent awarded the Croix de Guerre for Gallipoli in 1915 and used the alias Arturo Ricardo Cavallero. He is the author of Twelve Years In The French Foreign Legion, The Adventures of a Secret Agent, Born To Fight and March or Bust. He died in Brookland in 1988. 

St. Mary The Virgin Church, Little Chart, Kent - Revisit.

I previously posted about visiting and photographing St. Mary The Virgin Church here. The photographs were from ten years ago when the church seemed to be cared for by the local parish or diocese but I noticed a change when I drove past in January 2022. The small car park area at the front had been blocked off with boulders and an advert for a local business took centre stage at the front.  Harras fencing was around the building and the information boards that previously gave the history of the site were filthy and uncared for. I wrote to the Rector of the functioning local church, Revd Sandra Marsh, and she advised me that ownership had passed to English Heritage. I contacted English Heritage via their website but unfortunately didn’t get a reply. 

Find A Grave hold 848 memorials for graves at this site and whilst only eighteen are photographed I still managed to find another visiting today where autumn has caused the bushes to recede exposing gravestones. In addition to the outstanding research there is at least one grave that is actively mourned, that of #226873 Pioneer William James Matcham of The Royal Engineers. 

It is such a shame that this site is being left and the gravestones and ruin are at risk of further damage. 

The Gallery of Lost Souls 009

 

What is the Gallery of Lost Souls? 

It's a collections of photographs where I have very little information on the subjects or locations. These are photographs or slides that have come from eBay auctions or from a shop and don't have owners anymore. Am I searching for the subjects? Not really - the chances of finding the people is non-existent and finding descendants will be almost impossible. If you found out this was one of your friends or relatives that would be great and I'd love to reunite the photograph with the family but the aim is more to show these pictures as a window into another time that is now lost. 

St.Clement Church, Old Romney, Kent

St Clement was built in the mid 12th century with a nave and chancel and the aisles were added in 13th century by simply cutting through the thick Norman walls. The interior has a complete set of 18th century fittings including a gallery and box pews. However these are now painted pink following a request from a film company who came to Romney Marsh to make a film based on the smuggling adventure ‘Dr Syn’, written by Russell Thorndike. The film director Derek Jarman is buried in the churchyard.

Derek Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, author and gay rights activist who lived from 1942 - 1994. His online Find A Grave memorial can be found here.  

The Gallery of Lost Souls 008

No details on this photograph.

 

What is the Gallery of Lost Souls? 

It's a collections of photographs where I have very little information on the subjects or locations. These are photographs or slides that have come from eBay auctions or from a shop and don't have owners anymore. Am I searching for the subjects? Not really - the chances of finding the people is non-existent and finding descendants will be almost impossible. If you found out this was one of your friends or relatives that would be great and I'd love to reunite the photograph with the family but the aim is more to show these pictures as a window into another time that is now lost. 

St. Mary The Virgin Church, Little Chart, Kent.

St. Mary The Virgin Church in Little Chart (Chart being Old English for Cert - "rough ground" and Little differentiating it from Chart Sutton and Chartham) is a Grade II listed building. In August 1944 it was hit by a German flying bomb effectively ending its active life. You'll find records of hundreds of burials here but sadly only around fifteen surviving legible stones. Records show a place of worship on this site from the 11th Century and the gradual expansion of the physical building until that fateful night in August 1944. 

These pictures are from ten years ago and the last time I went past the car park was blocked off and fencing was around the main building due to risk of falling masonry (I presume from the recent Storm Eunice). Rev'd Sandra Marsh advises me that the site is now owned by English Heritage so I hope the necessary repair work takes place. 

 

St. Catherine’s Church, Kingsdown, Kent..

St. Catherine’s is said to be the only remaining complete Anglican Church designed by Edward Welty Pugin (1834-1875) who was a Roman Catholic. The parish had 96 inhabitants in 1865 when the church was built. It’s benefactor was Thomas Pemberton-Leigh the first and only Lord Kingsdown. Whilst many other churches were restored this was rebuilt. The builder was Mr. Smith of Ramsgate. 

The chancel has a red glow from the deep red of the glass in the north and south windows. They are Victorian glass and when the light comes through they create not only a glow but patterns on the floor. 

The surrounding graveyard contains less than fifty marked graves and is the final resting place for County Court Judge and author Henry Cecil Leon and his artist wife Lettice (Apperly) Leon.

Above the entrance is a statue of St. Catherine which was restored in 1968 in memory of Alice Ann Russell of Bond’s Cottage, Kingsdown who died at Rochester on 22nd January 1961 and of John Edward Gwyer of Kingsdown House who died on 19th January 1956 aged eighteen months and who rests in the graveyard. 

The church is Grade II listed and cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust, the national charity protecting historic churches at risk. Although no longer used for regular worship it remains consecrated and open to the public.