Memorial (or Monumental) Inscriptions (MIs for short) are immensely valuable to family historians as a source of information. A few surveys are available as described below.
Some of these surveys are fully searchable for names; in others you may need to download the document and search the text. We hope to make these easier to search in the future.
You will also find some full transcripts, pictures and plans.
Abenhall
St Michael Lower Churchyard By 1911 the graveyard surrounding the church at Abenhall had become full and a location for future burials was being sought. An orchard of about 1/3rd of an acre adjacent to the church was owned by Katherine Alice Barton who kindly offered to give the land to the church for use as a graveyard.Miss Barton desired that land be sectioned off with about one third of the plot being used for new burials and the remainder kept as an orchard until required in what was believed to be 40 years’ time.
The small section of land was consecrated on the 29th July 1911 but the first burial was not until 15th May 1912 and was that of Katherine Alice Barton. Of interest though is that in her Will dated 26th July 1910 she requests that she be buried amongst other family graves in Bratton Seymour near Wincanton in Somerset and that no one should go to her funeral because it would be too long a journey. In a later codicil to the Will Katherine changes her mind and asks that she be buried “wherever I may end my life”
The small plot of land became “full” after just 23 years, the railings were removed and the larger section was consecrated on the 21st July 1935 to form the Lower Churchyard that is there today.
Search the data Abenhall Lower Churchyard Memorial Inscriptions
View plans and pictures Abenhall Churchyard Plans
Acknowledgement Thanks to David & Sue Drinkwater for kindly providing us with the gravestone photos and the transcribed Memorial Inscriptions.
Bigland’s Transcripts
Background Ralph Bigland started his work about 1750, and worked for some 30 years transcribing the gravestones of many Gloucestershire church yards, and then produced papers describing each place in detail which were compiled into two volumes titled Historical, Monumental and Genealogical Collections Relative to the County of Gloucester.
The Bigland Transcripts are available from here .
Christchurch Old Graveyard
Search the data Christchurch Memorial Inscriptions
Newent St Mary’s Churchyard
Search the data Newent Memorial Inscriptions
Acknowledgement These Memorial Inscriptions were transcribed by the Newent Local History Society who have kindly allowed us to display the data on our Web site.
View Section Maps of the Churchyard
Pauntley
View the document Pauntley Memorial Inscriptions.pdf (27 MB)
Acknowledgement Thanks to Brenda Bainbridge for kindly providing us with the PDF file which includes gravestone photos and the transcribed Memorial Inscriptions.
Ruardean Congregational Chapel
History of the Chapel It was in the summer of 1852 that Joseph Mountjoy, a Cinderford butcher, came to preach under the firs on Ruardean Hill. A band of people soon grew and so the Chapel was built for £145 and opened on the 12th April 1854.
The first building proved too small and was enlarged to its present size in 1874. In 1868 there were 40 members.
Mountjoy remained as pastor until his death and was buried in the graveyard on Anniversary Sunday in 1879.
Search the data Search Ruardean Congregational Chapel
View Headstones and Memorial Inscriptions
View Recent Photos of the Chapel
Acknowledgements Many thanks to May and John Brace who kindly photographed and transcribed the headstones and made them available for us all.
Ruardean Hill Baptist Chapel
The project by May Brace In the summer of 2009 I obtained permission from Mr. Reg Duberley to photograph and transcribe the Gravestones in Ruardean Congregational Churchyard which he and his brother now own. We decided it was best left until after the undergrowth had died down a bit to make it easier to find the gravestones, and also to wait until the ground was drier to make it safer underfoot. He gave me the old index list he had from about 1985 and which you will find in the forum thread concerning the notification to remove headstones.
The word was now out among friends and colleagues. Because Mr Duberley wished to clear the churchyard of the headstones quickly and I had had a few offers of help, a date in March 2010 was organised.
It was a glorious early spring day and the response was amazing. On the day more workers than I expected came, with their secateurs, loppers, brushes and even a watering can to carry water from the brook to wash off the stones.