Church Yard – Mallaband-Brown

From a friend’s photo,

At Astbury just off the A34 near Stoke on Trent and Congelton. I can’t remember the church grounds it is in. The trunk is hollow. It goes to show that it is only the outer layers of plants that are really alive. Water and nutrients are drawn up the trunk by transpiration. The trunk is propped up with timbers.

I once saw an experiment on the TV when scientists cut through a mature tree, they placed the trunk into a container full of water. The tree continued to suck up the water despite being cut, this was because of capillary action. There are tiny tubes in plants called phloem and xylem which are there to take up water and also transport sugars and starches from the leaves into the body of the plant. These are the building blocks of the grass, shrub, flowering plant or tree. I don’t know much more about plant biology though. I’m searching round in my mind for facts from biology classes over forty years ago!

Sandstone is a beautiful stone, soft and porous, it can be carved into fine shapes. But as this gravestone shows it also dissolves, especially in out acid rain environment. In this case the stone has turned black, probably from pollution, as Stoke-on-Trent was a very smoky place, due to the coal fired potteries. And yet the church is clean. I don’t know if it has been cleaned but it has had some restoration.

The lettering on the headstone is almost lost. Its almost as if a layer has peeled off. Gone but not forgotten? It depends on whether the family still exists, and whether they still live in the area.

Other stones in the graveyard are in worse or better condition. Some have been turned into steps, gradually wearing away under foot.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Church Yard

2000 year old yew tree

Forgotten?