New Churchyard (Areas L to Q)

Introduction

The basic layout of graves in the new churchyard is shown om figure 1 below. The church record system divides it into a number of areas – L, M, N, O and P, with the latter containing the most recent graves. There is also a cremated remains area which, for the purposes of this web site we designate as area Q, to be consistent with the identifiers of the other areas. This terminology is not however used in the church record. Each grave is identified by and identifier of the form L.B15a, where L is the area, B is the row number in the area, and 15 is the grave number in the row. The final letter (a, b or c) indicates the order in which burials / interments were placed in the ground – a first and so on. They are not always used in a consistent way. The Inscriptions spreadsheet gives the full inscriptions for all graves with headstones or other monuments, where the first inscription dates from 2012 or earlier.  Names and death dates are extracted from these inscriptions for all interments up to and including 2012. In what follows, we do not highlight individual burials, as many of the graves are still tended, and it would not be appropriate to draw attention to those buried there or their families.

Figure 1. New Churchyard layout

Area L

Area L (figure 2 contains the oldest graves from 1944 onwards, but also in rows L.J to L.L some recent ones from the 1990s and 2000s. The area stretches across the New Churchyard. Rows L.A to L.H are numbered from north to south, and L.I to L.L from south to north, although there are some exceptions. Rows L.G and L.H overlap to some degree and the numbering of L.H starts at L.H30. Row L.I is numbered from south to north starting at the southernmost east / west path across the churchyard. However, L.I55 and L.I56 are to the south of this path, whilst L.I57 is adjacent to L.I53 at the northern end of the row (figure 3).

Figure 2. Area L

Figure 3. Area L showing the south end of Rows L.H to L.J

Area M

Area M (figure 4) is the least well organized un the new churchyard. Rows M.A and M.B are covered by trees and scrub on the eastern side of the churchyard, and some of the higher number graves on all the rows are similarly covered by scrub. Rows M.D and M.E are not continuous and overlap to some extent (figure 5). The burial register records are also inconsistent and incomplete for graves from the 1950s in particular. Care should thus be taken in identifying graves in this area.

Figure 4. Area M

Figure 5. Area M showing, from left to right, Rows M.D, M.E and M.F

Areas N, O and P

By contrast graves in Area N (figure 6) are laid out in an orderly fashion, although Rows N.J and N.K overlap (these are continuations of M.D and M.E – figure 7)). Areas O (figure 8) and P (figure 9) are similarly well ordered with the latter still being in use

Figure 6. Area N

Figure 6. Area N showing Rows N.K and N.J

Figure 8. Area O

Figure 9. Area P

Cremated Remains Area Q

The Cremated Remains in area Q are load out in a number of “crosses” identified as Q.A, Q.B with around 20 interments in each (figure 10). Inscriptions and photographs are not available of the flat memorial stones at the time of writing (December 022) and will be added to the spreadsheet when they become available. That being said, there is space for little information on the slabs, other than the basic names and dates.

Figure 10. Area Q – Cremated Remains