Don't Tread On Me: U.K. church angers some by offering Wimbledon parking in cemetery
Every year during Wimbledon, St. Mary's Church offers parking to fans attending the tennis tournament. Normally, the church opens an adjacent field for car parking, but this year St. Mary's allowed tourney visitors to park their cars in the oldest portion of its cemetery -- on top of actual graves -- for £20.
Naturally, local residents haven't thought highly of the practice. St. Mary's said that the money would go to charity and "make a valuable contribution to the Church and Diocese." However, it has since realized that perhaps letting people park their Land Rovers and BMWs above deceased parishioners -- even if they're long dead -- isn't the best way to raise money. Not even for charity. As such, the church has stopped using the actual plots as parking spots. Hat tip to Robin!
[Source: Daily Mail | Photo: Flickr, Jessica Mulley]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
i.c. weiner 12:50PM (6/28/2009)
in the title, cemetery is spelled wrong.
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derrrr 12:56PM (6/28/2009)
I wouldn't mind a bugatti parking on my grave.
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letstakeawalk 1:01PM (6/28/2009)
Ha! That's nothing. Here in Charleston, SC, there's a parking garage owned by the city that was built directly on the old Quaker Burial Grounds (est 1681). It's on the south-east corner of King and Queen Streets - they even left the front cast iron fence to serve as a "tribute".
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Smegley 1:11PM (6/28/2009)
So I'm sure that if the money went to a good cause the church would let me park and Edsel on a Bishop's grave, right? I'll throw an extra £100 in there if I can do donuts on the grave, because it's all for a ..... good cause.
Holy crap. The church leadership is as out of touch as political leadership.
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KC 1:16PM (6/28/2009)
RIP, Really Interesting Parking lot.
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Kiiks 3:43PM (6/28/2009)
Oh I'd come back and haunt the sh*t out of the mother****er that parked a Prius on top of me.
Victor 1:59PM (6/28/2009)
At what point did that seem like a good idea I wonder...
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DiRF 2:02PM (6/28/2009)
Carol Anne, do not go into the [head]light!
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Farris 2:07PM (6/28/2009)
....aaaand now I have the song "Don't Tread On Me" stuck in my head.
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Jeff Johnson 2:34PM (6/28/2009)
Let's think about it this way... every day tens of thousands of people die. Burial is probably the most common accepted way to get rid of the body.
If we respected every single dead person's grave, after a while this country would be nothing but hundreds of millions of acres of graves.
They are dead - what do they care, it's not like they are going to know there is a car parked on top of them.
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NickDG 3:54PM (6/28/2009)
I can understand letting them park in the cemetery premises, but on actual graves? Grade A retard decision right there.
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Patrick 4:06PM (6/28/2009)
Being that precast concrete burial vaults are a recent concept, couldn't somebody's Range Rover end up with a couple of wheels sunk up to the axle in somebody's grave?
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John Cressy 7:07PM (6/28/2009)
If nothing else it isn't very respectful of the dead to be walking on ones grave or parking on it. especially if you know it is a grave. That's RESPECT a long forgotten word.
To understand why the yard is placed next to the church you must know the promise of Christ's return.
It is said that at his return the dead in Christ will rise first to be caught up in the air with him.
If you were sitting in church one Sunday morning and saw the grave yard emptying you would know you are next.
Now let the wise cracks and rude comments commence!
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paul34 12:07AM (6/29/2009)
You smell of elderberries!
I figured I'd start off the insults.
TelegramSam 12:53PM (6/29/2009)
Grave yards are a very rude concept. Bodies can be cremated and not take up any space. Piling our dead on a giant plot of land is just a stupid idea. I'm glad at least the owner of the property is benefiting somehow, from this otherwise useless practice of burying the dead. I don't think any of the cemetery occupants will complain.
Brian f 2:33AM (6/29/2009)
Yay Europe!
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Protzenegger 9:43AM (6/29/2009)
UK =/= Europe. Whole 'nuther ballgame up there.