Hi Folks: New Year being the time for reflection, I've been pondering a mystery which has intrigued me for over 60 years. It concerns an old church and burial ground near the North Tyne town of Bellingham, north of Hexham, and two unusual graves in close proximity. I have racked my brains to try and recall the name of the church, without success, and am hoping some local might be able to identify the place, or someone with knowledge of local burials or history might put some flesh on the bones. >From memory, the old stone church stood alone a few metres back from a sealed road, and there were gravestones alongside a rough pathway leading to the main doors of the building. At the time I made my youthful visit, the place appeared completely abandoned. The door was wide open, wind-blown leaves covered the floor, dead flowers filled several vases and thick dust was everywhere. Hymm books still lay open on the seats of pews. On my way back to the road after a quick inspection, I came across two headstones on what seemed to be well maintained little graves. The first claimed to be the burial place of a person, a female I believe, who had died at some fantastic age. The second stated that this was the last resting place of a man who was a pirate. I can't remember what age was stated on the supposed female grave, but I do know it seemed impossibly old to me, and that maybe an error of some kind had been made. The male grave I found credible (just), but how and why had a pirate come to be buried near Bellingham, miles from the sea? Or was he some other kind of pirate, of the freebooter, land-borne variety, by no means rare in that part of the world? I'd love to hear some theories which might help solve the mystery. Alan Fletcher Hill, Buried in Hamilton, NZ