Tuesday, October 05, 2004

St Saviour's Church, Saltley, Graveyard Tour.

Well, this was something of a disaster! I thought about visiting the graveyard wearing wellington boots and armed with garden shears, secateurs and a coarse scrubbing brush. I should have taken these, and a machete, but the sun was shining and I didn't want to carry all that clobber half way round Brum... so...
I couldn't get near all of the headstones and I probably couldn't see most of them. The stones were often about 20 feet apart which suggests that many were lost in the undergrowth. If I had taken a strimmer I could have removed the top 12" or so of surface grass and maybe found some more. And yes, the sun was shining (for a while) and was positioned behind the headstones.. so taking photographs was not very practical. And then it poured down and that was the end of my trip. Having said all that, I did get a few photographs relevant to a few people. The ones posted here have been tampered with, sorry edited with Paint Shop Pro 7, just to make them almost viewable. I will send the unsullied originals to the people concerned.
And I am about to start the St Saviours Index, a list of all legible names on headstones that I find. I actually made a list of surnames while I was there, and so at the moment this is only a (incomplete) surname list. But I will return, better provisioned, and I may add given-names, dates and maybe I'll knock together some sort of plan and number system. This will probably be of no interest to anybody but it will keep me out of trouble for a while! I'll probably take a decent camera as well as my lo-res digital floppy-disc camera.
Here is the basic index, not in any particular order as people don't die in alphabetical order.. most inconsiderate! A slash between names indicate they share the same grave.
BURLEY, RATHE/BEES, COMPSON, KIRBY, BLACKWELL, HOBBISS, BUXTON, SUTTON, FOGG, JUKES, EVERTON, GOODALL, WILLDER/BROWN, WILSON, BISHOP, BARNSLEY, WALKER, KNIGHT, ARNETT, THRASHER, ATKINS, ROBBINS, WASSALL, MATTHEWS, IZDEBSKI/MARTEL/others foreign, QUINBY/EDWARDS, KENT, COX, FEATHERSTONE, BURFORD/WHITEHOUSE, GREGORY?, SMART, BOYCE, SMALLBONE/COLLIER..stepfather, WISEMAN, COOPER, MANSELL, HOWE, PHIPPS, HARRIS/PARKER, THAY?, PRITCHARD, WINGROVE, SHEPPEY, COWLEY, SMITH/OADBY/DOWELL, GOLBY, HICKMAN, RIGBY, MARSH, WATTS, CRUTCHLEY/SHENTON, COTTON/TOMLINSON, MILLWARD, NICHOLAS, SKINNER/EDWARDS, MORTIMER/MILLIN?, FLEET, GODDARD, SANDON, SMITH(Samuel & William), EAST, SMITH(John & Ann), CLEAVER, MOUNTJOY/BRADLEY, TAYLOR, ANDREWS, PERRY, NELHAM?, WILLIAMS/MANNISON, JAMES, PERKS, FROGGATT, JONES/KINGSTONE/ROWE, SHILLCOCK, MASON, CAMON? or GAMON, SMITH (Isaac, Catherine, Elizabeth/JUDGE.

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