{"id":1347,"date":"2018-08-06T20:28:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T00:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2018-10-28T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T17:50:10","slug":"theres-a-holein-the-fence-graveyard-strangest-wilderness-ever-st-pancras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1347","title":{"rendered":"THERE’S A HOLEIN THE FENCE.” Graveyard … Strangest wilderness ever St. Pancras…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cTHERE\u2019S \u00a0A HOLE IN THE FENCE\u2026”<\/div>\n
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STRANGEST GRAVEYARD I HAVE EVER SEEN<\/p>\n

(Worth a read. \u00a0Really. \u00a0Strangest place in North London with a history going back to the Roman Emperor Diocletian )<\/div>\n
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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
August 2018<\/div>\n
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\u201cLOOK, there\u2019s a hole \u00a0in the fence.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSeems creepy.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCome on, see \u00a0where it leads.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGravestones covered in Ivy.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s \u00a0a \u00a0graveyard\u2026a forgotten \u00a0graveyard.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCreepy, Alan, a place where \u00a0weirdo\u2019s could hide.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo sign of a \u00a0living person.”<\/div>\n
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\u201cWho was St. Pancras?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA 14 year old kid way back in the \u00a0days \u00a0of \u00a0the \u00a0Roman Emperor Diocleitan who was quite a guy. \u00a0he favoured persecution of \u00a0Christians because<\/div>\n
they seemed to be \u00a0a threat to Roman authority. \u00a0Christians were one \u00a0God people. \u00a0Doclietian \u00a0supported the Roman idea of all \u00a0kinds of gods.<\/div>\n
Christians were also pacifists! \u00a0Now how could Roman legions be \u00a0organized if Rome became \u00a0a pacifist empire. \u00a0 St. \u00a0Pancras was a \u00a0strong Christian\u2026he refused<\/div>\n
to recant. \u00a0So Diocletian had him BEHEADED and that is why \u00a0the little boy Pancras became St. Pancras.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut how come \u00a0he is revered here \u00a0in London?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSt. Pancras \u00a0is one of \u00a0the oldest Christian churches in \u00a0England. \u00a0Saint Pancras church was \u00a0founded by Saint Asugstine of \u00a0Canterbury. \u00a0I guess \u00a0he wanted \u00a0to be sure that the teen ager Pancras \u00a0would<\/div>\n
never \u00a0be forgotten.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThere is no church in \u00a0this \u00a0graveyard\u2026where did \u00a0you get the idea there was a church \u00a0here?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLondon \u00a0moved bodies around a lot, particularly in the \u00a019th century when the \u00a0railway boom was going \u00a0full tilt.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo what\u2026there is no railway line near here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSt. Pancras Church is in the centre \u00a0of \u00a0London. \u00a0The \u00a0church is still there but the graveyard is \u00a0not\u2026it was \u00a0moved to leafy rural \u00a0North London to make room for a railway.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many were moved?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. \u00a0 But This graveyard \u00a0has nearly a million bodies., only some of which were \u00a0moved here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho \u00a0did the moving?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThomas \u00a0Hardy, the great novelist, \u00a0got the job. \u00a0He \u00a0was a young architect at the time<\/div>\n
(Look up \u2018The Hardy Tree\u2019 for proof)<\/div>\n
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Speaking \u00a0of architects, \u00a0deep in the abandoned St. Pancras graveyard \u00a0a young \u00a0architect has built tis tree fort.<\/div>\n
Somehow I doubt he uses it on dark nights.<\/div>\n
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Just before \u00a0we \u00a0flew back \u00a0to Canada I took another lonely walk through St. Pancras \u00a0graveyard. \u00a0Fear gnaws at the mind<\/div>\n
when alone in \u00a0such a place.<\/div>\n
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Enough. \u00a0I searched for the hole in \u00a0the \u00a0fence. \u00a0Made \u00a0a \u00a0few \u00a0 wrong turns \u00a0but \u00a0eventually escaped. \u00a0 But not before<\/div>\n
I got properly startled. \u00a0Another man was wandering through the graveyard. \u00a0 \u00a0Never \u00a0saw him until we both reached<\/div>\n
the \u00a0hole in the \u00a0fence. \u00a0Never heard him. \u00a0Just felt a presence. \u00a0Turned \u00a0around and there he was \u00a0right behind \u00a0me. Touching distance\u2026that close.<\/div>\n
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\u201cStartled me!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRight place for that\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTrue\u201d<\/div>\n
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No wonder Charles Dickens found St. Pancras graveyard a good place for grave \u00a0robbers and \u00a0body snatchers to hide.<\/div>\n
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Next Halloween I dare \u00a0you\u2026double dare you\u2026triple dare you\u2026to take a walk through St. Pancras graveyard \u00a0at dusk\u2026or<\/div>\n
after nightfall. \u00a0Do not expect me to come \u00a0along with you.<\/div>\n
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alan<\/div>\n
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\u201cTHERE\u2019S \u00a0A HOLE IN THE FENCE\u2026” STRANGEST GRAVEYARD I HAVE EVER SEEN (Worth a read. \u00a0Really. \u00a0Strangest place in North London with a history going back to the Roman Emperor Diocletian ) alan skeoch August 2018 \u201cLOOK, there\u2019s a hole \u00a0in the fence.\u201d \u201cSeems creepy.\u201d \u201cCome on, see \u00a0where it leads.\u201d \u201cGravestones covered in Ivy.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1627,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions\/1627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}