8: Damnatio Memoriae – Thin Places in Hard Concrete, story by story

The eighth story in my new collection Thin Places in Hard Concrete is about what happens when you read aloud the names on old headstones in your local cemetery. If you follow me on BlueSky, and previously followed me on Twitter, you might know that I collect names from headstones and sometimes share them with the hashtag #CemeteryNames. I do this because I find them beautiful and fascinating, especially when the name is one I’ve never come across before. When I was the guest at one of David Collard’s online literary meetups the other day someone mentioned the fact that many surnames died out during World War I and perhaps this brings an added layer of melancholy and bittersweetness. Here are some recent examples from cemeteries in Bristol and South Gloucestershire: Bundey Dascombe Dolling Duffin Filor Greasley Gubbins Hordo Krywen Lasper Loney Rodbard Skyrme Tossell Weetch The best, though – my absolute favourite – is Frederick T. Mittens, which would be a great name for a cat. These…