Churchyard areas and clusters

Areas and Clusters

The locations of the various Areas and Clusters that are used for grave identification on this web site are given in figures 1 and 2 below. The buttons below the figures lead to pages that describe the state of each area and cluster and, for the Old Churchyard, give some details and photographs of the most prominent graves that can be found there.

Grave locations in the old churchyard

Figure 1. Current and clusters in old churchyard

Grave locations in the new churchyard

Figure 2. Areas and rows in the new churchyard

The photographs

Photographs were taken of all the headstones and graves that could be associated with one or more named individuals and are identified in the spreadsheets. On line storage limits do not allow all of these to be posted. Rather, specific photographs can be obtained from me at c.j.baker@bham.ac.uk. The process of taking and identifying these photographs was not wholly straightforward. Where the headstones and inscriptions were in good condition, it was a simple matter of searching the inscription and survey spreadsheet to locate the grave or inscription number. However, many were in poor condition, with very worn inscriptions, and a large number were to some extent overgrown by scrub and brambles. It was found that for many of the worn inscriptions, the photographs actually revealed more than could be seen on the headstones, and if a phrase could be identified (a name or otherwise) then a search of the spreadsheets could identify the grave unambiguously with one or more individuals. Those who laboriously transcribed the inscriptions in the 1980s when they were more easily readable are the real heroes of this project. There were however many gravestones that were too worn to be identified in this way, on some of which the wearing process has the visual effect of an out of focus photograph. In addition, there were many graves that could simply not be easily accessed without heavy duty bramble and nettle-roof clothing.   Thus, whilst the photographic record is as complete as I could make it in the time that was available, I have almost certainly missed some headstones and inscriptions.  Should a reader be interested in a specific grave however for which there is no photograph, the spreadsheets and plans should enable a rough location to be determined for a more detailed search in that area. Note in particular that close line numbers in the BMSHG survey almost certainly indicate that the graves were in close proximity at that point, and if a grave with a close number is visible with a photograph, the grave that is being searched for will be in the immediate locality.