I enjoy exploring old graveyards and churches. I'm not sure why but I find them fascinating places, places of peace and sadness, reminders of our mortality. The tombstones tell the stories of those who lived and died, some in childhood, others a great age. It is particularly interesting to see how family names carried on through the generations but I guess that is changing. I doubt if the two little girls called Paris and Zara whom I heard being called by their mother in the garden centre today were named after their grandmothers!
This is St Mary's Church at Ballymascanlon. I pass it daily as I travel into town on my way to work, yet until last year I had never stood inside it as it is Protestant church. Ireland's divided history meant that members of different religious congregations never visited each other's churches although that is changing.
Dating back to the 16th century, Ballymascanlon church is a beautiful building, with pretty stained glass windows and polished wooden pews. Although the Church of Ireland congregation is declining, the church is well maintained and the caretaker was delighted to show us around.