Another hazard - migratory gravestones

Question

The editors of the Visitation of Shropshire note that when Shrewsbury "city" churches were rebuilt, gravestones were removed and relocated at country churches

http://www.archive.org/stream/visitationshrop00britgoog#page/n18/

Comments

I'm almost afraid to ask - was it just the gravestones that were moved, or were the graves they marked moved also?

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This happened in Australia alot. Now they rezone cemeteries, and are destroying headstones. Burial plots have an expiry date and so do German cemeteries. I know in western Australia, a cemeteries headstones were moved twice for roads to be built over the graves. Says something about the attitudes towards the dead...out of sight out of mind!

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I'm not superstitious or anything, but Poltergeist comes to mind

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Definitely a common occurrence and probably happens in most places. Sometimes just stones get moved but it may also be relocating the people as well.

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I wonder if migratory gravestones are carved from these.

Answer 1

Yep! Rolling over entire graveyards is not an uncommon event, I suspect, in many countries.