Thread by @DavidDobie2

Since September 2021, I've been busy photographing, transcribing, and documenting the gravestones at my local churchyard, St Nicholas, Sutton Parish, Surrey (now Greater London). 👉 Here's a thread about 15 months spent in a #graveyard. [1/25] #AncestryHour

This entire project started as an excuse to get outside and get some exercise. “Why not photograph a few gravestones and add them to @FindaGrave?” I said... [2/25] #AncestryHour

Yeah, right. Like an enthusiastic #genealogist is just going to take a few gravestone photos. Absolutely NO chance that it might lead to a compulsion to photograph EVERY. SINGLE. GRAVESTONE. I mean, AS. IF. [3/25] #AncestryHour

As it happens, photographing and researching an entire churchyard has been very therapeutic. It’s time-consuming, sure, but also makes a fascinating project. [4/25] #AncestryHour

St Nicholas Parish Churchyard was in use for centuries. Burial registers show a gradual increase in interments during the 18th century, a busy period from the late 1850s (as Sutton’s population increased), and a rapid tail-off starting in 1883. [5/25] #AncestryHour

I estimate that there are just over 360 extant gravestones in the churchyard, and the majority of them are legible. I’ve photographed all of them, and 64% have been placed on-line so far. [6/25] #AncestryHour

Of course, local heritage does not last for ever. The fragile gravestone of Amelia and William Young was found lying broken, face-down, around 7 months after I’d photographed it. findagrave.com/memorial/23492… [7/25] #AncestryHour

You can find all the gravestones I’ve photographed, edited, and transcribed so far on the @FindaGrave website at findagrave.com/cemetery/23320… [8/25] #AncestryHour

I’m also creating or amending a @FamilySearch profile for each of the deceased people inscribed on each gravestone at St Nicholas Churchyard, adding photographs and detailed transcriptions as “Sources” and “Memories”. [9/25] #AncestryHour

My logic is that adding gravestone photographs to both @FindaGrave and @FamilySearch means that interested researchers stand a reasonable chance of finding them, and the images have a good chance of surviving on-line long after I’m gone. [10/25] #AncestryHour

I’m also making arrangements that all of my digital photos, including the 100s of images which aren’t available on-line, will be transferred to @SuttonArchives (libraries.sutton.gov.uk/digital-conten…). [11/25] #AncestryHour

In fact, now would be a good time to do a shout-out to my new friends at @SuttonArchives (part of @SuttonCouncil), and to helpful #archivists everywhere, who help researchers access their collections. [12/25] #AncestryHour

The earliest death inscribed on a legible monument at St Nicholas Parish Churchyard seems to be that of the Rev George Roberts (?1635–1685), previously located inside the earlier church built of this site. findagrave.com/memorial/24245… [13/25] #AncestryHour

I have had some real luck with this gravestone transcription project: The Sutton Parish registers, including burials between 1636 to 1954, have survived. They are preserved at @SuttonArchives. [14/25] #AncestryHour

Images of the burial records are also available online @Ancestry in “All Sutton, Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812” & “All Sutton, Surrey, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813–1985”. [15/25] #AncestryHour

Cross-referencing a gravestone inscription with the burial register often helps decipher names and dates which are unclear on the extant monument. [16/25] #AncestryHour

I’m not the first person to have transcribed gravestones at St Nicholas Churchyard. Between 1971 and 1972, a local parishioner, Norman Crabtree, documented all the extant stones he could read. [17/25] #AncestryHour

Mr Crabtree lodged copies of his manuscript with: @SocGenealogists (item no 43571, call no SR/M 25); @SuttonCouncil (copy in the Archive & Local Studies Search Room); and the Rector of St Nicholas Parish Church (stnicholas.suttonteam.org.uk). [18/25] #AncestryHour

I’m deeply grateful that Mr Crabtree did his work so thoroughly: He organised his transcriptions in a logical order, and I could follow his route around the churchyard, helping me to identify gravestones which are now completely illegible. [19/25] #AncestryHour

If anyone happens to know any of Mr Crabtree’s descendants, please let me know, I’d like to tell them how useful his work has been. [20/25] #AncestryHour

I’m also extremely grateful that the Church Administrator at St Nicholas kindly supplied me with a copy of Crabtree’s manuscript for private use. 👍👍👍 It’s been a very useful double-check for my own transcriptions. [21/25] #AncestryHour

One of the hardest parts of this project has been producing a map of the gravestone locations — Tackling this solo was a deranged idea, but I did it! Mapping might be better tackled by a group of volunteers, or by a professional. [22/25] #AncestryHour

The map was initially produced on squared paper and then reworked in Adobe Illustrator. A lot of the editing and repositioning of the grave markers was done in the field on an iPad with Apple Pencil. It took HOURS! [23/25] #AncestryHour

There’s a load more stuff I could tell you about this project. It’s been really enjoyable to do, but there’s still plenty of work to get the remaining monuments edited and published on-line. [24/25] #AncestryHour

So now, my friends, you know what I’ve been up to during the last 10 months' of radio silence. I hope to be back more regularly on social media from now on. 👍 [25/25] #AncestryHour

Good grief! Note to self: That green background is truly HORRIBLE. Never, ever, use that colour again!