Graveyard recording in Wilmslow

One of my titles is Chairman of Wilmslow Community Archaeology. We have been working in and around Wilmslow for the last eight years, recording the archaeological and small historical remains, then publishing our findings and putting on occasional exhibitions and open days.

Our biggest project is the recording of all the graves in St. Bartholomew's graveyard, with half a dozen volunteers per session and meetings once or twice a months work progresses slowly, but we reckon we have about 70% of it done.

The graves cover the period from the 17th to the 20th century and come in all shapes and sizes. We have the burial register and a graveyard survey of the 1960s to go on, but with ongoing depositions of ashes and the changes due to extensions of the church and paths, and the ensuing movement of the stones, things are far from just a box ticking exercise against the old register.

In fact at the current count, we reckon that about 40% of the stones recorded in the old register are either missing or have been removed from their original location. In some cases this is easily remedied, especially the flat stones and memorials on the kerbs of the graves are frequently overgrown, but a careful probe with a knitting needle often reveals the graves just centimeters below the grass. We then record them and mostly replace the grass, protecting the stone against the elements and preserving the graveyards secondary function as a wildlife haven.

But many of the stones that were originally displayed around the church and especially to the South of the church were removed in the 1980s, when the Garden of Remembrance was created (that is the official name of the piece of grass between the Lychgate and the Church). The stones, mostly flat grave covers, rather than headstones were moved or removed and some of the excavations in advance of the extension of the church produced large numbers of fragments of these stones.

But others were just moved to create walking surfaces, either around the church or from the tower down the path to the river. Some of these are still easily recognisable, others are now overgrown.

One of these stones turned up last Saturday during our survey, overgrown by the edge of river.
The slab is 183 x 90 cm and records the burials of the Holbrooks family from Etchells. The stone was originally about 5m to the right of the Lychgate, when entering the graveyard (and before you ask, when the stones were moved the burials themselves remained untouched, so Mr Holbrooks and his family are still close to the Lychgate).

The stone itself is in a beautiful condition, with very little wear. We are currently starting to look into the family and where they came from. Burial in this part of the churchyard usually suggests that they are old families of Wilmslow and large tithe payers, although they describe themselves as from Etchells. Clearly there is a story there. 

The next recording in on July 1st, from 1pm-4pm, if you want to join us.