It’s that time of year again; all the daffodils are blooming, heralding the start of spring in their unique bright and beautiful style. This selection can be seen at churches and churchyards, burial grounds and war memorials.

Interesting fact about war memorials: some have a cross on top or engraved into the monument, while others are cenotaphs, which have a flat top, like the one at Carshalton Ponds. The word Cenotaph derives from the Greek Kenos, meaning Empty and Taphos, meaning Tomb. This seems particularly appropriate for Easter (!) but the term also means ‘buried elsewhere’. A cenotaph commemorates many individuals who have died, usually in a war, but also as a result of other mass deaths. War memorials in general started to appear in Britain in about 1920, to commemorate soldiers killed in the First World War, with names subsequently added in later conflicts.

Source: Wikipedia

The War Memorials:

Manor Park, Sutton; Carshalton Ponds; Wallington Green

The Churches:

Trinity Church, Sutton; St Mary’s, Beddington; All Saints, Carshalton; St Nicholas, Sutton; Front of All Saints, Carshalton

The Churchyards:

St Mary’s Beddington: St Nicholas, Sutton; St Peter’s Woodmansterne; Bandon Hill Cemetery, Beddington