View through the lychgate at St Mary's Churchyard, Higham
Introduction
The photograph on this page of View through the lychgate at St Mary's Churchyard, Higham by Marathon as part of the Geograph project.
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View through the lychgate at St Mary's Churchyard, Higham
Image: © Marathon Taken: 5 Oct 2022
The churchyard of St Mary's at Church Street, Higham is a strong contender for the opening scene of Great Expectations. Charles Dickens lived in the parish and the churchyard is in a lonely spot on the edge of the marshes. Nearby Cooling is the other contender and has the Comport graves featured as Pip's siblings' graves in the opening lines but the setting is more akin to Higham. Fellow contributor Stefan Czapski agrees - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2936353 The view of the BBC progamme 'Coast' was that Dickens amalgamated the graveyards of St James's Church, Cooling and St Mary's, Higham for the opening scene of Great Expectations. The lychgate can be seen at https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7302909
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Image Location
Latitude
51.439602
Longitude
0.469053