APART from the parish church and village pub, one of the best places for local history is a graveyard.
Over the years I have explored most of them across the Maldon district and I associate each with particular people.
Whenever I visit Langford, for example, I pay my respects to the former railway station master buried there.
At Goldhanger I make a beeline for the headstones of two Great War pilots.
At Tolleshunt D’Arcy it’s a doctor and a famous writer, and at Woodham Walter an 18th-century miller.
The choice is, of course, a personal one, because every commemoration is equally important and those remembered are an integral part of the fabric of their former homestead.