I really wanted to do this more justice but the weather was against me. This has to be the saddest grave I've ever come across. Betty Corrigall was a young girl living in Hoy In the 1770's who became pregnant. She was unmarried and the father of the child abandoned her and ran away to sea. The shame of being an unwed mother then was another world and she tried to kill herself by walking into the sea, she was rescued but hung herself a few days later. Because she comitted suicide she was buried in an unmarked grave between two parishes. Her grave was found by two men cutting peats in the 1930's, she was reburied until soldiers here during the war found her and dug her up for the curiosity, Her grave was moved. Finally an American minister who was visiting gave her a cross and a service. It sits on a very bleak and isolated part of land and it makes me grateful to be a woman now rather than 250 years ago
HP5 Nikon FE
Powerful image & story. I too am defo glad to not have felt that shame myself. Cracking portrayal as at first glance it is dark & bleak. I looked again & the lit path intrigued me to walk in & look/read story. Clever. Fav
I'm not sure which bit horrifies me more; that she felt that she had no other option, or the way her body has been treated for years. As an un-wed mother, I'm certainly glad I'm here and not there!
You've caught the mood perfectly -- dark and lonely and bleak and so very sad. Yes, we are fortunate indeed to have made progress since Betty Corrigall's day -- a very unfortunate young woman with a shocking fate. Fav because it gives me much to ponder.
A splendid shot and a very sad story. I am doing some work for my father on the concept of "knobstick weddings" where a young man who impregnated a woman out of wedlock, could be forced to do "the decent thing" and marry the girl by a member of the clergy wielding a fearsome stave.
Saw this on PP and was immediately very drawn to this. Love the mystic and dramatic shot in itself but combined with that story, it´s very powerful shot. I absolutely love how you have used the light here to create great intensity, grave and the path to there is white just like it would be inviting me to take a walk there. Fav!
Ingrid you sad story so captures the desperation this young girl must of felt! It is a beautiful photograph and if she some how knows, you have done her justice...A Fav!
@chewyteeth I haven't seen that film in ages, back when Film four was good - they had a whole season of Lars von Trier, bleak indeed. There's a plaque at the roadside giving all the information, I took photos with my iphone as the memory is soo bad. Been taking any photos recently ??
I have seen this grave and heard the tale when I visited many years ago, so very unjust, even after death to be treated that way is totally appalling. As a women with children who has by choice never married I feel privileged to have the freedom of choice denied to women in the past and still denied them to this day in other parts of the world. RIP Betty Corrigall. A beutifully evocative story illustrated well by the dark imagery here. A fav.
there's lots of pics of it on the tinternet, but this is the best.
I've been doing bits...some pinhole with Liam actually which was pretty amazing using 4/5 sheet film. I've got a few new cameras. I'm trying to find a job so its been shelved mostly. I loved that film!
took a foreign minister to forgive her is a shame on the local clergy I guess. super picture. Does it say all this on her stone?
I hope she's finally at peace.
I've been doing bits...some pinhole with Liam actually which was pretty amazing using 4/5 sheet film. I've got a few new cameras. I'm trying to find a job so its been shelved mostly. I loved that film!