The Histon & Impington Funeral Bier

Today & tomorrow the HI funeral bier is on display at the HI Christmas tree festival as a Christmas table with an empty chair for a special person who we lost in 2022. And her lifelong supporter.

Acknowledged by the that represents those we love and have lost, not only at Christmas but everyday.


Come and peg a name on the Bier for your loved one.

We would like to remember how the use of traditional methods to move coffins from place of death to place of funeral has changed over the years.
Royalty lead the way in continuing the ritual and tradition of communities for hundreds of years even despite the modern engine.
King George VI died at Sandringham and was transported on a gun carriage.
Our Queen Elizabeth II will also be carried on the gun carriage.
The parish funeral bier was the method of moving the body of the deceased in the parish coffin, accompanied by communities alongside.

Now we have hearses, can we combine modern and traditional and think about our environment and our intimacy with death & dying in our communities ?

The Histon & Impington funeral bier is available for its community.
We don’t have to conform to what is expected.

“ Caring for creation” from cradle to grave.
The histon & Impington funeral bier is at the St Andrews church in Histon as part of the flower festival this weekend.
Please come along and see all the beautiful arrangements.

Thank you to all our supporters and helpers at the jubilee weekend. We collected almost 100 soft toys prior the jubilee weekend. They all got chosen, named and gifted to a Ukrainian child for “Bears on the Bier”.
We have joined forces with a local charity who can send these loved toys directly to Ukraine! I shall be dropping them off at the warehouse next week!
With love from the bears of Great Britain 🇬🇧

Quality conversation & beer on the bier for Easter 🐣 weekend 🍻
Come along !
Click in the poster for full info on venue and time - at the king Bill pub.

Fascinating information about the rituals of funerals that belonged to the community.
How have times changed?

Do know these history tidbit about death?

A wake served as a safeguard from burying someone who was not dead, but in a coma. Most wakes also lasted 3-4 days to allow relatives to arrive from far away. The use of flowers and candles helped to mask unpleasant odors in the room before embalming became common. In 19th century Europe and America the dead were carried out of the house feet first, in order to prevent the spirit from looking back into the house and beckoning another member of the family to follow him.

In rural areas before embalming was practiced, pre-civil war, people would "wake the body" . The custom was to sit with the deceased all night usually 2 nights, to make sure the person in question was truly deceased.

Funerals were held in the home of the deceased. They were open to the public rather than just for friends and family. The body would usually be displayed in the front parlor, but sometimes in the loved one's bedroom. As news of the death spread, people would stop by the home to pay their respects. If a funeral was held at a funeral parlor, it usually meant the person did not have enough family or friends to take care of the services.

Coffins were not used by early settlers. Instead a sheet often consisting of wool or linen dipped in wax, a blanket, or a quilt was used to wrap the body. The covering was usually supplied by women friends or family. The first coffins came in the later 1800s and were often carved-out hollow tree sections.

Daffodils on the bier at Abbey farm, Histon, yesterday.
Guided and self guided walks still available Sunday & Monday.

Funeral biers of sorts

The HI bier returns home - July 2019
Mill Lane cemetery - Histon.

In 2019 the HI funeral bier was restored to its former glory; removal of rust and a good oiling. Thank you to Mr Redfarn of Ely for doing this.

In 2019 Histon & Impington parish council were contacted by Haddenham parish council to return the Histon Bier to our villages.
We went to collect it in order to renovate it and bring it back home for our villages to admire its beauty; share its history and to be used as the community can envisage.

The Histon & Impington Funeral Bier updated their website address.

The Histon & Impington Funeral Bier updated their business hours.