no longer buried bodies, but legend has it that the souls of those who rested there still milling around in the undergrowth. There rested the small Reginald Rankin, only one year old; Also Harriet Wallace. And so to have 14 people buried in this corner facing the Mediterranean. we talk about British Cemetery, on the beach of the Marineta Cassiana of Dénia, or at least of its memory, because currently there are no buried bodies or tombstones there in good condition.
Quite the opposite. The weeds have swallowed up this small part of the history of Dénia that many are unaware of and whose visit is difficult to access. The remains of the tombstones, broken and eroded by the passage of time, show the neglect by the institutions of this piece of Dénia's memory that dates back to 1856. That is the date of the first burial on record. From then until 1918, the so-called British Cemetery It housed the remains of Britons killed in Dénia and could not be buried in the municipal cemetery for not being Catholic.
But as we say, there are no more bodies. The deterioration of the facilities and the theft of the fences that protected it forced the relatives of those who rested there to repatriate their bodies to the United Kingdom to avoid possible desecration. Since then, this refuge for souls has suffered constant deterioration, leaving the nature follow its course and merge with the stones that were once tombstones.
Among his remains sovereign highlights the central monolith erected by the Rankin family in memory of his little Reginald, who died 6 1865 December. There you can also read a little gem of world literature: a text of the American poet John Dos Passos of 1922, Fine How To Die In Dénia (What good to die in Dénia), which speaks of the wonders surrounding the city. The plate was placed anonymously in the early twentieth century and today has become more valuable than what is in the historic cemetery.
Despite what counts the legend, British Cemetery It has nothing to do with the sinking of the frigate the Guadalupe in 1799, since its construction is later (1856). It is therefore not possible at night to hear the songs of the sailors who lost their lives because they were not buried there.
The reality is that the cemetery is still privately owned and, for the moment, there are no plans for him beyond the constant degradation suffered by the passage of time between its stones. What it is, and will always be a corner in which to remember a part of the history of Dénia should not be forgotten and to go to be in tune with the souls who lived and the stories behind them.
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Access to English cemetery in Dénia
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Entrance to the English cemetery in Dénia
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Outside the English cemetery in Dénia
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John Dos Passos enrollment in the English Cemetery in Dénia
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Underbrush in the English Cemetery
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Central Monolith English Cemetery in Dénia
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side door of the English cemetery in Dénia
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Remains of the tombstone of a child buried in the English Cemetery in Dénia
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Remnants of tombstones in the cemetery of the British Dénia
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Remains of a tomb in the English Cemetery in Dénia
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open in the English cemetery grave
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open in the English Cemetery Tomb Denia
How young people died in Denia with the burning force of the sun.
Burning in the calm blue sea and the stable brooch Iron Hill:
Denia, where the earth is red like rust and gray as ash hill, it shall rest in the red earth to melt with fire omnipotent young white god, the god of the sun flame.
To find speedy resurrection in the hot grapes that come from the earth and the sun and will be pressed as pulp under the feet of girls and boys and flow for new generations of men in a wine filled with earth from the sun.
John Dos Passos, 1922
Bravo
Interesting and nice article. Denia has a great history built by the Dianans and all the people who came to live here and contributed their lives and their work to the enrichment of the area. In this case the cultivation of the Grape Goes by the English. Beautiful the Poem. It would be interesting to have more historical and cultural articles to know better the history of these lands.