A very formalised covered entrance and perimeter wall at the front, ‘the names of the dead’ are placed into the brickwork on the other side of this wall, which also has a 1984 dedication stone set into it. Nearby there is another memorial which has a 1942 date. And earlier there was a 1917 memorial, which no longer exists except in photographs. Spreading out behind this formalised and tamed front-area, there is an untidy rough-hewn area of graves which look ‘original’, and are probably older than many such, but still have undergone ‘restoration’ work to make them look ‘proper’. Thus large stones have been cemented into the grave-tops, to stop animals from digging down or indeed digging up; and earlier metal number-plates have been replaced or added to by headstones which do not belong to the same graves, with many also featuring displays of plastic flowers.
View Nylstroom gallery here
