The Unofficial Countryside.

 I have long been interested in 'Edgelands', a term first coined by Marion Shoard to describe that land between town and country; neglected and forgotten, perhaps full of 'weeds'.  It was, perhaps first written about by jornalist and nature writer Richard Jeffries in his 1883 book 'Nature Near London'.  Over the years it has been called different things by different people: Alan Berger calls it 'drosscape, in Les Miserables Victor Hugo refers to it as 'bastard countryside' or 'terrain vague'.  Perhaps the most well-known book on the subject is 'The Unofficial Countryside' (1973) by Richard Mabey and in 2011 Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts published 'Edgelands - Journeys into England's True Wilderness.  Nature writer Robert MacFarlane included a chapter on the subject in his acclaimed book 'Landmarks' (2015).

With this in mind I always keep my eyes open for 'weeds' when I am in the cemetery and, of course, The Horsefield or, more correctly, Gooseman's Field, is a classic Edgeland: on the edge of town between town and country, common land, uncared for and neglected, where at one time grave spoil was dumped from the cemetery, stolen cars are dumped and set fire to and occasionally rough sleepers find a quiet corner, but rich in wildlife.  

Today I decided to concentrate on cemetery weeds. 'Weeds' and plants that grow where they are not wanted.  They are often stubborn and prolific and, therefore, very successful; survivors.  I didn't have to walk far to find my material.  Of gravestones Richard Mabey wrote: "and here, where limey patches have splashed onto the gravestones, another strange natural circle is joined.  Not seedling yews, but rosettes of lichens that take hold, whorls of orange and yellow and green like landlocked coral...".

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