Corpse Way: Calvert Houses

Calvert Houses on the Corpse Way, about a mile from Ivelet bridge ( Swaledale). The Corpse Way ran between Keld and Grinton. Despite its position at the opposite end of Swaledale, twelve miles away, Grinton Church and burial ground was the nearest consecrated ground to Keld. Bodies were borne along the Corpse Way to Grinton, over Kisdon Hill, in wicker baskets. Every so often along the road, there were long slabs of stone on which the corpse could be placed while the corpse-bearers rested.

Mounted on Photo File card with LAVC/PHO/P1621, and contact print copies of LAVC/PHO/P1184 and LAVC/PHO/P1185. With ms. notes on the Corpse Way and its use, and words to the 'Swaledale Dirge' as sung by Ruth Alderson of Gunnerside, in the hand of Werner Kissling.

Originally held in Photo File: Traditional Customs, Annual Fairs, Bonfires.