Why are memorial benches so popular? Because they keep the dead present in the flow of everyday life | Anne Karpf

2026-03-23 - 09:10

UK towns are overwhelmed with requests for more. And no wonder: inscribed on them are intimate flashes of the people we knew and loved When Hartlepool council announced last week that it wouldn’t be accepting any new applications for memorial benches as it had too many already, it joined a growing list of towns and parks that are increasingly unable to cope with the demand. In an era when social media memorial pages are commonplace and potentially infinite, what is driving this desire to commemorate a loved one in a physical space? The popularity of memorial benches certainly gives the lie to the assumption that we live in a post-material world. It also signals a change in the way that we grieve. Memorial benches speak of a need to mourn not just behind closed doors but also in public – a shift to which digital culture has probably contributed, and which manifests particularly strongly in secular countries where mourning isn’t mediated through the church. Anne Karpf is a professor of life writing and culture at London Metropolitan University. Her research on memorial benches will be published in a special issue of the journal Life Writing next month Continue reading...