Living next door to a graveyard

[woebetide8]

Found what looks like a lovely house online (ticks all our boxes)... BUT it is next door to a burial site (developed old church building now flats is next door but the churchyard/burial site remains. My first thoughts are "creepy", but a few friends have said it wouldn't bother them... curious to know if anyone has lived next to a burial/churchyard, or dismissed a property because of this?

Ooh that's a bit woo

I rented a house next door to a church/graveyard for a while. The church and grounds were raised so my garden wall was their retaining wall. The only 'problem' we had was the ridiculous number of mice the graveyard attracted....my back yard was full of dead mice thanks to my cat! Never seen anything like it.

The bells from the church took a matter of days to get used to. Don't notice them after that.

We nearly bought a house next to a grave yard but didn't in the end.
Nothing to do with the grave yard though. I'm quite sad that we didn't go for it in the end!

Where dh is buried is one of the nicest places in our town with nice views. Wildlife eat the flowers, but I quite like the idea of animals scurrying over the grave.

Provided it's not an antisocial behaviour hangout for the living, a graveyard is one of the best neighbours you can have. We used to live next to a big one and it was great - dark, quiet, good range of birds, butterflies, bats etc around our garden.

As for 'mingling soil' 😂 - decomposed things form the majority of all fertile soil. Any 'body molecules' that work their way over from the graves would have been through the digestive tracts hundreds of worms to get there and be indistinguishable from all the other worm shit.

My bedroom window looked out over an abattoir, I would happily take a graveyard... at least the people in a graveyard arrived there dead and you did have to see them go to their doom.

Ideal neighbours. I'd see it as a bonus.

I used to live in a housing co-op where an old graveyard was part of the big garden. I am (irrationally, I know) terrified of ghosts, but never had any concerns being in the garden, even alone and at night.

As a kid all our holidays were spent housesitting for an aunt, whose bungalow was next to the ancient church and cemetery. Also no issues, apart from really nice views.

I think it sounds perfect as a neighbour - a quiet, green space that will never be built on.

🤢😢

Relative has lived with a graveyard over the back of her house.
No issue at all.

Sounds like bliss.
Have a read of a few nightmare (alive) neighbour threads on here, that might help you firm your views up. 😁

I’m not a vegan I used to be but stopped for health reasons but I feel light headed and sick reading about what happens to animals so we can eat them.

I think we should all have a better relationship with death and those who are dying or close to death. In other cultures the dead are much more part of life iyswim ...
Maybe a new career as a death doula beckons. 😁

Only thing that would concern me is if the original cemetery boundary has changed over the years and your garden was historically part of it. Maybe don't dig down too far!

Happened in the town I was brought up in, the ancient old cemetery with burials going back 500 years had the boundary changed about 200 years ago. Houses were built more recently and several bodies were found when the foundations were being dug, forensic anthropologist estimated they were Christian burials from around 300 years ago and were originally part of thr cemetery that had been reclaimed and had stables built on it , stables were eventually removed and the house builders bought up the land...it was all very exciting with tales of a mass murderer...

Apart from that, I would love it!

Why is it creepy? I don't understand this at all! Graveyards are peaceful places, where we commit our loved ones after they've died. Nothing 'creepy' about that.

🤦‍♀️ffs!

Yeah, all that blood and bone is terrible for the daisies.

I agree, there is a church with large graveyard near our house, I walk through it regularly (even at dusk) and find it peaceful.
The only reason I wouldn't walk there after dark is that it's not well lit and an actual living person could be hiding in there and attack me - far scarier and more realistic prospect than ghosts

There’s a graveyard behind my back garden never bothered me!

Wouldn't bother me at all. I don't mind woo stuff and I agree it's the living you need to worry about. I like graveyards, I find them very peaceful.
On another note I know of someone who lives in a house with a few gravestones in their front garden. It was in the deeds that they can't remove them as it's protected or something. Now could you live in that house?!

The graveyard has not been in "use" since the 1970's, so maybe everyone has mingled already?!

Ha ha, I was thinking about that earlier... I am sure I bought something for my roses last year that advertised just that one the front of the packet!

Church mice!! Why so many mice? Please tell me it's not to do with them snacking on anything below the soil...!

We live across from a graveyard. There is a strip of land between us and it however. I like the view. The church, some trees, peace and quiet. My 5 year old was admiring the view from his bedroom with Grandma one day and he said "Oh look Grandma, a mini digger". Grandma said "Oh yes they must be planting a tree". 5 year old said "No Grandma they are digging a grave". 😆

I thought perhaps it meant we were destined to be together. We were not 😆