The headstone containing the names of (some of) my ancestors was in the graveyard of Church of St Nicholas.

While wandering the graveyard I found two Commonwealth War Graves, both from the Great War:-

Private J Shield, Northumberland Fusiliers, 10/11/1918:-

Serjeant J W Brabban, Royal Field Artillery, 27/11/1918, aged 21:-

In the old village square in Cramlington, Northumberland, is an information board.

One of the items on it commemorates the men from mining communities who joined up and went off to fight. 170 Cramlington men did not came back. Victory arches were erected as, of course was the permanent War Memorial:-

Another panel on the board remembers a Zeppelin attack on the village:-

Cramlington‘s War Memorial is a figure of Saint George atop an obelisk surmounting a hexagonal base.

The dedication runs round the top of the hexagonal section and reads, “Their names live together in honour and glory.”

Figure of Saint George:-

There are two memorial benches. The first is dedicated to the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment. The Poachers.

The second is the usual kind of Great War 100th anniversary bench:-

I can trace part of my ancestry back to my grandmother’s family in Tyneside. She was born Margery Besford in Hebburn, now South Tyneside, but a book I inherited through her from her father suggested he had once lived in Cramlington, Northumberland. There in May 2021 I found this headstone relating to an even earlier generation of Besfords.

The gravestone tells of the unfortunate fate of John Besford. He was run over by a train on Stannington viaduct. How devastating that must have been for the family. His young wee daughter followed him just a year later. Annie was obviously a bad luck name for the Besfords as the Annie in the following generation, my granny’s older sister, also died very young, of Scarlet Fever I think.