The Cycle of Life

Introduction

For those seeking wellbeing, the cemeteries offer a unique environment where you can reconnect with nature away from the stress and noise of the inner city, and be reminded of the ongoing cycles of life and connections between all living things.

Nature and wildlife play an important role in the present-day use of Georgian and Victorian garden cemeteries like Westgate Hill and St John’s, offering not just a place of rest, but also a sanctuary for the living. They are good spaces for walking, great places to learn about local history, or just a peaceful place to be in the natural world and reflect – a kind of quiet park.

There is a strong link between the design of Victorian cemeteries like St Johns and Westgate Hill and public parks created in the same era. And as well as being places for people, they are also a haven for wildlife.

I love it here, I think it’s beautiful. It’s funny, some of my friends say, ‘is it not a bit morbid walking your dog in a cemetery?’. And I look around and I go ‘no, there’s more life in here than there is death…the trees, the green, the wildlife’. There’s so many birds, there’s hedgehogs and rabbits and foxes and people. And all the stories. I love going around and inventing stories from the little glimpses on all of the stones. And it feels really peaceful. Whereas, though I love Benwell, a lot of it isn’t peaceful!

Joe Hayden, A dog walker in St John’s Cemetery, Elswick.

Designed with an emphasis on beauty and tranquillity – both sites were partly chosen for their great views over Newcastle and beyond – the cemeteries are urban green spaces that support biodiversity and provide a peaceful refuge from everyday bustle and noise.

The lush landscapes, mature trees, and varied plant life found in these cemeteries create habitats for a wide array of wildlife, including birds, insects, and mammals. And lichens thrive on all the stonework of the gravestones, monuments and walls. Here are some of the trees to look out for in St John’s Cemetery

There is a wide variety of trees at St John’s, providing shade from the sun to visitors and all-important homes to local wildlife. As the cemetery was one of England’s first garden cemeteries, landscaping and plant-life have been central to the site since its inception. The trees found onsite include Ash, Hawthorn, Holly, Hornbeam and Swedish Whitebeam.

Cemetery Cyanotypes.

Nature has been an inspiration for art-making throughout history and the natural and built environment of the cemeteries can provide inspiration for making mindful creative visual responses.

Cyanotype photography, or sun prints as they are sometimes called, enables photographic prints to be made totally in place without the need of any photographic or printing equipment. Daylight, the placing of found objects on paper treated with iron salts, and a source of water to wash them after exposure is all that is needed to produce a print truly made of place.

Credit: Images created by Stories of the Stones participants during cyanotype workshops led by project artist Julie Ballands.