Headstones And Snowdrops

[poliphilo]

Knaptoft is a deserted village in Leicestershire. If you poke about the fields you can find the humps and bumps which show where the houses used to stand. No-one knows why the people up and left; perhaps it was the Black Death, perhaps it was a result of the enclosure of the Common Land, perhaps it was just population drift. I say "deserted" but there are still a few buildings (you can see some of them in the third photograph) and- according to Wikipedia- around 50 people living in the parish. The church of St Nicholas is a ruin (local tradition says it was destroyed by Cromwellian troops letting their hair down after their victory at nearby Naseby) with walls below knee height and a broken archway or two. The site is beautifully maintained as a Garden of Remembrance and has never ceased to be used for burials. Open air services are held in it when the weather allows.

Knaptoft has an powerful atmosphere- calm, peaceful, reviving.