In the western Valley of Monmouthshire in the early fifties it was the tradition of men only at the funeral and the women mourned at the house. Before the advent of funeral homes the recently deceased were kept in the front room of the house until the funeral. I remember my grandmother in a coffin of yew on the table in the front room of our terraced house. There were two candles burning at each side of the coffin and the table was adorned with a chenile tablecloth. On the day of the funeral thecoffin was passed out through the front room window into the waiting hearse. I also remember a family who carried their deceased to the cemetery for obvious financial reasons. Many people saved for their funerals. I would not call it the good old days - but there was respect for the deceased - with a steet/road drawing their front room curtains as a mark of respect. ----------------------------------------- Email sent from www.virginmedia.com/email Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software and scanned for spam

Thanks for your replies, it's interesting because he left Blaina when he was about 30 and died in Bournemouth 21 years later, so the family must have kept up the tradition even though he was far from home. My mother's side of the family come from West Wales and I can remember them drawing the curtains in the street when my grandparents died. Thanks again Ann ----- Original Message ----- From: <ian.york@ntlworld.com> To: <MONMOUTHSHIRE@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 8:02 PM Subject: [MON] Burial Traditions > In the western Valley of Monmouthshire in the early fifties it was the > tradition of men only at the funeral and the women mourned at the house. > Before the advent of funeral homes the recently deceased were kept in the > front room of the house until the funeral. I remember my grandmother in a > coffin of yew on the table in the front room of our terraced house. There > were two candles burning at each side of the coffin and the table was > adorned with a chenile tablecloth. On the day of the funeral thecoffin was > passed out through the front room window into the waiting hearse. I also > remember a family who carried their deceased to the cemetery for obvious > financial reasons. Many people saved for their funerals. I would not > call it the good old days - but there was respect for the deceased - with > a steet/road drawing their front room curtains as a mark of respect. > > ----------------------------------------- > Email sent from www.virginmedia.com/email > Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software and scanned for spam > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MONMOUTHSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >