Overview

Ian Shipley has now been traditionally hand-digging graves for 40 years. He was taught to dig the old-fashioned way and four decades on, averaging 114 graves per year, Ian can still be found habitually toiling away in one of any number of locations across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. In Tales of a Gravedigger, the author's first book, he recalls true tales from his early years whilst working at Newark's London Road Cemetery in Nottinghamshire. It is a light-hearted and occasionally amusing look into the life of a gravedigger. From coffins getting stuck to stomach-churning exhumations. From unexpected cave-ins to practical jokes and various other ghostly goings-on. It's an interesting glimpse into a profession that most of us know very little about. Ian has always believed that a grave should be hand-dug. It's more personal that way. For years he has declined to use mechanical digging, preferring instead to keep alive the old ways. In Newark-on-Trent and throughout the surrounding villages of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, Ian will possibly be the last of the traditional gravediggers.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ian Shipley
Publisher:   Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd
Imprint:   Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 12.70cm , Height: 0.70cm , Length: 20.30cm
Weight:   0.133kg
ISBN:  

9781839756917

ISBN 10:   1839756918
Pages:   114
Publication Date:   10 March 2022
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Newark Cemetery 1 Chapter 2 In at the Deep End 8 Chapter 3 The Knowledge 10 Chapter 4 Initiation 14 Chapter 5 Moonlighting 16 Chapter 6 Phantom Digs 20 Chapter 7 The Notorious Mr X 22 Chapter 8 Machine Digging 24 Chapter 9 Class C's 27 Chapter 10 A Practical Joke 30 Chapter 11 Restless Spirit 31 Chapter 12 When the Coffin Gets Stuck 34 Chapter 13 The Old Gravedigger's Cottage 37 Chapter 14 There's Always One 39 Chapter 15 A Strange Occurrence 42 Chapter 16 Three Nuns 45 Chapter 17 Collapsed Graves 47 Chapter 18 Sikorski Goes Home 51 Chapter 19 A Lucky Escape for All 55 Chapter 20 Ignoring the Obvious 58 Chapter 21 The Man who was Buried Twice 61 Chapter 22 Exhumation 62 Chapter 23 Unmarked Graves 66 Chapter 24 We Do the Work; They Take the Credit 68 Chapter 25 Stumped 72 Chapter 26 Blood, Sweat and Toil 74 Chapter 27 Ashes? What Ashes? 78 Chapter 28 Can You Dig Us Another? 80 Chapter 29 An Unpleasant Smell 83 Chapter 30 All's Well That Ends Well 85 Chapter 31 Artic Conditions on New Year's Eve 88 Chapter 32 Peace of Mind 91 Chapter 33 Easily Spooked 94 Chapter 34 Strange People 97 Chapter 35 Cemetery Wildlife 99

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Author Information

Ian Shipley (58) lives in Morton, near Swinderby, Lincolnshire. For 20 years he worked at Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire, and was foreman there between 1997-2003. In 2003, he started his own grave-digging business and to date he has now hand-dug over 4,620 graves. He has dug in over 155 cemeteries and churchyards across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

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