Comments on: The Dead Man In Clerkenwell

By: Little Nell

Little Nell — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 13:25:22 +0000

I echo the previous comments- a beautifully written and moving piece.

By: Margaret N

Margaret N — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 20:14:32 +0000

Thank you for such a good piece. Having been with both my parents as they died, your words resonate with me too – the quiet tenderness of much of that time – and the subsequent need to grasp life. I look forward to visiting your dead man of Clerkenwell when I am next in that part of London.

By: Sally Baldwin

Sally Baldwin — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 18:59:28 +0000

Gentle author, thank you once again for a beautiful and thoughtful piece. Thank you for who you are and what you do. We treasure you.

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 18:48:34 +0000

Both of your parents would be proud of you GA, this is such a thoughtful and well written piece. Having been with my husband when he died I can confirm that the immediate feeling is one of absence, and, in my case, an overwhelming sense that all was well with him. hard to explain but true.

By: Patricia Stoughton

Patricia Stoughton — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 17:32:27 +0000

Your beautiful piece today has brought tears to my eyes.

Echoing Jacqueline Sarsby’s lovely tribute above, your tireless work brings so much pleasure to so many. You really show the best of those you interview and we come to know them a little too.

Thank you.

By: Phil Maxwell

Phil Maxwell — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 17:24:42 +0000

Beautifully written.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 17:08:34 +0000

So beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing this through your words and photos.

By: Avril Towell (was Jenner)

Avril Towell (was Jenner) — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 16:32:34 +0000

Thank you for all your articles which I have only recently discovered. I don’t live in the east end of London any more but I still feel it’s where my heart is. My last visit made me feel sad that so much had disappeared and is still disappearing. Nostalgia can take over as you get older, but some of your contributors with their comments are names from my past which make me want to return,if only to enjoy your wonderful site. Avril

By: Ruth

Ruth — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 15:47:51 +0000

What a strange coincidence. I visited the crypt with my young son only last week and the effigy struck me deeply, having been at my mother’s bedside while she wasted away to a similar vision as this, but one that I didn’t find disturbing, despite it being my first such encounter. The figure struck me as very poignant and familiar at the time, but I was thankful that it had little effect on my son, so full of life and innocent of the reality of death. Thank you, Gentle Author, you often seem to post exactly the right thing at exactly the right time!

By: Monica Emerich

Monica Emerich — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 13:30:31 +0000

My first visit abroad was to England at the ripe old age of 34. I’d fantasized a plenty about the castles, cathedrals, and tombs I’d see, and I was not disappointed, of course. Your post reminds me of the thrill of encountering another culture, history, and place through travel, as well as bringing into vivid contrast practices of treatment and memorialization of death. Here in the southwest U.S., my first sighting of a dead person came in the form of the Anasazi/Pueblo people mummies on display in various state and national parks such as Mesa Verde in Colorado. It was a reprehensible violation of tribal spiritual and cultural beliefs that has, thankfully, ended. Still, the capture of the once-living person’s facial expression through the process of mummification was shocking for us kids. “Esther,” as one mummy was called by the Mesa Verde park officials, clearly died in agony. Thus, I had a bit of opposite reaction to death as other readers here–I still felt the mummy emitted a horrifying “aliveness.” And that is my Halloween post! Thank you for this wonderful blog.
–Monica