It began very simply and unexpectedly. A friend told me about the headstone of Margaret Williams in Cadoxton, just outside Neath.

I went to see it and I was amazed at what I saw. A headstone in an ordinary cemetery, screaming out Murder! It still remains absolutely fascinating. When I first saw it, I was determined to find out more. Why was the stone erected? What had happened all those years ago ? Why was the story behind it not better known?

I had to know. The more research I did, the greater the sense of commitment I felt to preserve the remarkable story. And as I worked other stories came to my attention. Stories about the remarkable events hinted at on grave stones.

Or rather, Murder Stones.

They marked the graves of murder victims. They were crimes which remained unsolved. These stones were believed to have the power to draw back to them the murderer. So if you waited long enough the murderer would return, drawn by guilt and ego, and they would thus be apprehended. Clearly a vain hope, but one which perhaps gave bereaved families some comfort. I found four of these graves in the South Wales area. There may indeed still be more, just waiting to be discovered.

I then moved on to other graves which had their own interest. The stories that I wrote about them appeared in Welsh Country Magazine and the idea of moving them into a book gradually took shape.

I have written for the magazine since 2005 and we became convinced that the stories should be recorded and preserved. It would be a great tragedy if these stories should disappear. So we expanded those stories which had already appeared in print and added new ones. As a result we have a book about murder, infanticide, poisoning, vendettas, sudden death, mystery.

Many of the churchyards in Wales are very beautiful. They are sometimes remote and generally peaceful. Yet they hold such secrets. Human frailty, drama, heartbreak, treachery. Huge emotional storms that are preserved now only in fragile crumbling words on stone. In their own ways, these stories have contributed to what we are today. They are part of the heritage we share.

Volume 1 was published in the middle of November 2008. Welsh Country Magazine should be applauded for their insistance on the very highest production values throughout. Click here to go straight to a summary of the contents of Volume One.

Click here to visit the Welsh Country Magazine website.

Volume 2 may one day be published and Volumes 3 and 4 are almost complete.

These are real stories, true stories. They are often as dramatic and as convoluted as fiction and yet they are about people as real as you and me, who lived real lives just as we try to live our own. They themselves were overtaken by events which ended with their burial in the cold, cold earth.

Which one of us has the right to say that their stories are not worthy of our attention, if only for a moment? My book, "Stories in Welsh Stone" is my homage to all of these people.

with my best wishes

Geoff Brookes