This audio trail was commissioned by St Mary's Old Church in Stoke Newington. St Mary's is London's only surviving Elizabethan churchyard, and the tombstone inscriptions have been lost to weather and time. "Are You a Ghost-hunter?" pieces together the fragments of story. It turns out that urban foxes and local teenagers - each in their own way - are the ones who are most familiar with the long forgotten dead.
With thanks to the voices of St Mary's Old Church:
Stoke Newington School students
Jean Sprackland: writer
Abstract Benna: performance poet
Charles Foster: vet, barrister, philosopher
Sam Lee: folk singer
Tania Aubeelack: activist and historian
Nana Fani-Kayode: radio producer
CREDITS
Creative producer: Laura Mitchison
Sound design: Gareth Fry
Illustration: Joanna Layla
Music: Sam Lee.
The audio tour features Bonnie Bunch of Roses [sung a capella], Lay This Body Down [sung a capella] and Lay This Body Down [album recording, licensed courtesy of Cooking Vinyl Limited], performed by Sam Lee and produced by Bernard Butler.
‘Bonnie Bunch of Roses’ is a Napoleonic ballad originating with a Romany singer called Freda Black.
‘Lay this Body Down’ is a spiritual originating with an enslaved oarsman (his name is sadly unknown).
Due to launch on the Old church website in 2021.
