An obscure note

 

I was aware that weddings which take place in Lincoln Cathedral were recorded in the registers of St Mary Magdalene’s church, the parish church which almost abuts the wall around the Cathedral close.  I know this simply because my own wedding is so recorded.

The reason is that the Cathedral, unlike some others, is neither a parish church nor a ‘peculiar’ (that is, territory which does not fall within any parish), so weddings taking place there are taking place within St Mary Magdalene’s parish. 

Actually, the parish boundary runs through the Cathedral, so weddings in the retrochoir at the west end of the Cathedral were recorded in the registers of St Peter-in-Eastgate.

What I had not realised is that the same thing applies to burials.  Part of the Cathedral grounds was actually treated as the parish churchyard.  I was told this when I spotted that a Victorian Alderman is commemorated both on a memorial in St Mary Magdalene’s (which says he was a regular worshipper there) and on a grave stone close to the Cathedral’s  Galilee porch (where he is buried).

But the biggest surprise was then being told rule seems also to apply to burials in the Cathedral’s cloister garth (the grass area within the cloisters).  So I was shown the page which includes the burial of Bishop Edward King there in 1910.  The signature in the right hand column is that of the then Archbishop of Canterbury.

As always, clicking on the picture brings it up bigger.