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El British Cemetery, Where British souls looked the Mediterranean

November 12 from 2016 - 01: 00

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, In the Marineta Beach Cassiana Denia, or at least his memory, because currently there are no tombstones buried there in good condition or bodies.

open in the English Cemetery Tomb Denia

Quite the contrary. The weed has engulfed this small part of the history of Dénia many unknown and whose visit is difficult to access. The remains of the tombstones, broken and eroded by time, neglect shown by the institutions Dianense this piece of memory that goes back to 1856. That is the date of the first recorded burial there. From then until 1918, known as 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, no more bodies. Degradation of facilities and theft gates that protected forced the relatives of those who rested there to repatriate their bodies to Britain to avoid desecration. Since this haven of souls has suffered constant degradation, letting nature take its course and merge with the stones that were gravestones in the day.

Central Monolith English Cemetery in Dénia

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.

John Dos Passos enrollment in the English Cemetery in Dénia

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.

Comments
  1. Paco says:

    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.

  2. Juan Manuel Moreno. says:

    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


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