Tag: Gravestones

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TheGenealogist adds 100,000 new Headstone records

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.*

NEWS: Press Release from TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist logo

 

The International Headstone Collection at TheGenealogist has been boosted with 100,000 new records, bringing the total to nearly 400,000 records in the collection available for all Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist to search. 

Included are some extremely interesting memorials that allow researchers to see details about ancestors that have been immortalised on gravestones. These inscriptions can provide the family historian with useful information about the deceased and their family as commemorated in various churches and cemeteries. 

The headstone records released cover various burial places and include, at Mells St Andrew, Somerset – Siegfried Sasson, Ronald Arbuthnot Knox a translator of the Bible and some members of the Bonham Carter family and the Asquith family.

In St Peter’s Churchyard, Bournemouth, is the grave of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. She was the widow of the Romantic Poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was cremated in Italy – though some of his mortal remains are reputedly also interred in this grave having been buried along with their son Sir Percy Florence Shelley.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein grave at St Peter’s Bournemouth
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein grave at St Peter’s Bournemouth

 

The Headstones Collection is also a record layer on TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™ with its ability to look into the area surrounding the location of the churchyard or cemetery. With its different historical and modern georeferenced maps, the researcher can discover the area and see the neighbourhood’s streets where the deceased ancestor may have lived, worked and played.

The International Headstone Collection is an ongoing project where every stone photographed or transcribed earns volunteers credits, which they can spend on subscriptions at TheGenealogist.co.uk or products from GenealogySupplies.com. If you would like to join, you can find out more about the scheme at: https://ukindexer.co.uk/headstone/

 

Read TheGenealogist’s article: The horror author with the heart of a poet

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/the-horror-author-with-the-heart-of-a-poet-1610/ 

 

 

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk/

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New Searchable Headstones online

Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links.

 

News:

 

TheGenealogist has just released nearly 60,000 new individuals on Headstones from another 61 churchyards and cemeteries. This means that there are now a total of over 174,500 individuals that are fully searchable in TheGenealogist’s Headstone collection which has examples from across England, Scotland and Wales as well as Jersey in the Channel Islands, Cyprus and India.

Search for headstones of ancestors

The new data will allow the family history researcher to discover:

  • 60,000 individuals recorded on Headstones
  • churchyards and cemeteries from various parts of England and Wales
  • use the Map Explorer to see the location of cemeteries in and around an ancestor’s town

 

TheGenealogist has imaes and transcripts of ancestors headstones

The headstone of Herbert, Ist Baron Austin (Founder of Austin Motor Company) in Lickey Churchyard

 

This release covers the burial grounds at the following:

Anglesey, St Tysilio; Atcham, St Eata; Badger, St Giles; Belbroughton, Holy Trinity; Betws-y-Coed; Bishops Wood, St John; Blymhill, St Mary; Boningale, St Chad; Bristol, St Paul; Buckhorn Weston, St John; Bylchau, St Thomas; Capel Garmon; Cofton Hackett, St Michael & All Angels; Dolwyddelan, St Gwyddelan; East Orchard, St Thomas; East Stour, Christ Church; Edgerton Cemetery; Frankley, St Leonard; Gwytherin, St Winefride; Harlow, St Mary Little Parndon; Harlow, St Mary Magdalene; Heanton Punchardon, St Augs; Henllan, St Sadwrn; Ince, St James; Iwerne Courtney; Lickey Parish Church; Lickey Rose Hill; Llanedwen; Llanfair Talhaiarn; LLangernyw Capel Garnedd; Llangernyw, St Digain; Llanrwst Seion Methodist Chapel; Llanrwst, St Mary; Llansannan Capel Coffa; Llansannan, St Sannan; Llanwrst, St Grwst; Long Crichel, St Mary; Marnhull Cemetery; Marnhull, Our Lady; Meltham, St James; Newborough, St Peter; Penistone, St John; Penmachno Capel; Penmachno, St Tudclud; Pensford, St Thomas a Becket; Pentrefoelas Church; Publow All Saints; Purse Caundle, St Peter; Rhydymwyn, St John; Santon Downham, St Mary; Shillingstone, Holy Rood; Tal-y-Bont Capel; Tisbury Cemetery; Todber, St Andrew; Trefnant Holy Trinity; Trefriw, St Mary; Tyn-y-Groes; West Orchard, St Luke; Wilton, St Mary & St Nicholas; Wroxeter, St Andrew; Ysbyty Ifan, St John

 

These fully searchable records are transcribed from images of the headstone memorials. This latest release from TheGenealogist covers many parts of the UK, the images and the transcriptions being provided by volunteers working for the UKIndexer projects which rewards those who wish to photograph, transcribe or do both with credits to pay for genealogy books, software, online subscriptions and more.

 

Read my article on the UKIndexer Volunteers find Family History:

 

These records released today are available to Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist as part of the Deaths and Burials Records collection.

 

 

*Disclosure: Please note this post contains affiliate links. This does not mean that you pay more just that I make a percentage on the sales from my links. The payments help me pay for the cost of running the site. You may like to read this explanation here:

http://paidforadvertising.co.uk

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There are Treasures to be Found in Graveyards

Headstones on TheGenealogist
Hidden Treasures of Headstones on TheGenealogist

I wrote an article for TheGenealogist  website about some of the fascinating things that I learnt from taking a camera and recording for posterity the sometimes decaying headstones in my local area before they become even more unreadable.

I am not kidding, when I say that it opened my eyes to the life and death of our ancestors. To find out what I discovered take a look here: The Hidden Treasures of Gravestones

You will see that I get a bit of a thrill when I come across a churchyard or cemetery. If you read my piece, then you’ll understand just why to me it is a fabulous repository of genealogical information and all of which is just waiting to be revealed.

Armed with a camera, a bottle of water and a soft paint brush (I explain about these in the article), I recently set off to record as much as was still legible on stones in my home and beyond.

The Genealogist - UK census, BMDs and more online

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Help preserve these crumbling records!

 

Thorne graves in Dartmouth, Devon Following on from last week’s post, about the Memorial Awareness Board’s photographic competition, comes this interesting project from S&N Genealogy and TheGenealogist.

As family historians we are all, no doubt, well aware of experiencing that thrill when finding the grave of an ancestor in some churchyard or cemetery. I also know the frustration of knowing that a forebear was buried in a particular burial ground but not being able to find them. Perhaps because their memorial stone had been taken down when it became dangerous, or simply that the inscription had decayed over the years from the onslaught of the British weather.

Headstones nationwide are suffering from erosion, and burial grounds from closures for new developments. We need to act now to preserve these crumbling records.

If you, like me, are interested in helping to achieve this then you may want to join this new project where you can earn credits towards a subscription with TheGenealogist or products from S&N Genealogy. All you need to do is photograph and transcribe headstones from local churchyards and cemeteries from your part of the country.

As S&N Genealogy writes, in their most recent newsletter, they are aiming at building the most comprehensive record of gravestones for family research and help preserve the memories these fragile stones provide.

I applaud them for doing this and make no mistake, I for one shall be contributing my part.

Join me by heading over to: http://www.ukindexer.co.uk/gravestone and signing up!

 

 

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Dead Art? Then & Now.

 Memorial national photo competition £1000 prize winner!

The Memorial Awareness Board (MAB) runs the annual competition that challenges the public to take two photos, one representing the ‘then’ and one representing the ‘now’. It’s an opportunity to showcase memorials ‘unsung beauty’.

Robin Bath. Now
Robin Bath. NOW

 

Robin Bath. Then
Robin Bath. Then

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The competition, sponsored by Funeral Directors Lodge Brothers (www.lodgebrothers.co.uk) was a huge success and with such a high standard of entries choosing the ten shortlisted proved a challenging task! Then ten were then published on the website and put to a public vote.

Winner Robin Bath from Fulham was delighted with the £1000 prize. Robin said “Thank you so much to MAB for the great opportunity. I am a keen photographer and found the subject matter of stone memorials most fascinating. Visiting cemeteries is a beautiful and peaceful pass time. Organisation’s like MAB are vitally important”. Robin also received a gold award certificate signed by the MAB chairman.

Competition sponsor Chris Lodge, (Managing Director of Lodge Brothers) presented Robin with the cheque by the Thames at Tower Bridge.

Earlier this month Robin Bath from London won the £1000 prize for a national photo competition designed to capture the beauty of stone memorials.
Earlier this month Robin Bath from London won the £1000 prize for a national photo competition designed to capture the beauty of stone memorials.

 

Congratulations to runner up Peter Heaton from York who won a digital camera. Peter is most inspired by photography and visiting cemeteries. He says “I was delighted to hear that I had won the Silver Award in the MAB photographic competition, I came across the competition online a couple of years ago and thought then that its subject would suit my style of work and interests. I began to look at the fascinating variety of memorials in my local cemetery.

Peter Heaton. THEN
Peter Heaton. THEN

 

It is reassuring to know that there is a body such as the MAB which contributes to the continuing interest and development of ourcountry’s memorials”.

 

 

 

New to this year were certificates signed by the MAB chairman who awarded a Gold, Silver and a selection of Bronze.

Peter Heaton. NOW
Peter Heaton. NOW

The Memorial Awareness Board is a non-profit organisation, representing memorial stonemasons and campaigning for sympathetic memorialisation in the UK. Its brand new website, www.rememberforever.org.uk, aims to inform the public and the press alike about their options regardingmemorialisation. Whether a loved one is buried or cremated they deserve to be remembered forever and a stone memorial is the best way to accomplish this. The website gives details of all types of stone memorial available from UK memorial masons.

Each year, the ‘Dead Art? Then and Now’ photography competition attracts entries from across the country. The purpose of the competition is to encourage the public to venture to their local cemeteries to discover the beauty of stone memorials, while helping them to understand the importance of stone memorials as a focus for grief in the short term, and agenealogy tool in the long term. The competition  is sponsored by Funeral Directors Lodge Brothers. Lodgebrothers.co.uk

Christopher Lodge, Director of Masonry at Lodge Brothers (Funerals) Ltd says, “ As a family business established over 200 years, we are really pleased to sponsor this unique photographic competition. Memorials play a part in our social history through both personal and public memorials. They are a lasting tribute to loved ones and those who have lost their lives for our country. We sincerely hopethat this competition shows the changes within our industry and society through the theme “Then and Now” and raises the awareness and importance of commemorating in stone.”

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