Love and Loss: A Day At Arnos Vale Historic Garden Cemetery

What’s the episode about?

In this episode, hear about an event on Love and Loss: A Day At Arnos Vale Historic Garden Cemetery, Bristol discussing love, romance, death, culture, prison writing, slow suicide, creative writing, obituaries, epitaphs and more.

See photos from the event below!

You will listen to a range of academic research love, sex, romance, death, grief and loss, all based or connected to the South West of England, and many of whom were recorded whilst walking around the rather hilly Arnos Vale Historic Garden Cemetery in Bristol, so do forgive any out of breath-ness!

The day in April 2026 at Arnos Vale began with a networking and idea generation event for researchers, followed by a guided tour open to the public with the theme of love and loss. This was filled with a rich mix of real-life tales — from couples united in life but separated in death, to daring elopements, parental love, and forbidden love. Some stories are touching, some tragic, and some wonderfully surprising. This was followed by a creative writing workshop on the theme of love and loss, including practical activities and stimulus prompts drawn from the cemetery and the lives of its occupants.

The aims of the day were:

To provide a forum for constructive discussion & preliminary dissemination of research works in progress.
To identify potential future collaboration.
To share research of high public interest with an open audience in an established heritage setting.

Links below for more information on the place and people in this episode!

Find out more about Arnos Vale.

Find out more about newly appointed Associate Professor Dr Jo Parsons.

Find out more about Janine Marriott.

Find out more about Dr Andrew Griffiths.

A huge thank you to the Open University for their support for this event via the Academic Communities Fund!

Where can I listen?

LISTEN HERE!

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. (2026) The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 26 July 2026. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.33089351