Do you enjoy the photos I post every day?

Claire and I have posted over 850 different pictures to Facebook in the last 12 months - please ask yourself if are they worth 1 cent each to you?

At the moment you get to see all our gravestone discoveries for free but sadly I don't think the current situation can continue. We are having to travel further and further to reach sites that haven't already been surveyed and the total investment in time and money we made in 2015 would probably shock you.

If you do enjoy looking at our work then please help us continue the hunt by buying a copy of Grave Hunting - Tips and Tales. Remember it is the small profit from the sales of our books that pay for the trips where we take the photos you seem to enjoy so much.

 

 

CONTENTS

• Introduction Why go grave hunting?
• How to hunt for gravestones safely.
• When to go grave-hunting.
• How to find the grave that you want.
• Photograph the gravestones you have discovered.
• Should you clean the gravestones?
• Keeping records during your graveyard visits.
• Do look inside the church.
• Be polite and respectful.
• Churchyard maintenance.
• How do I find every church?
• Survival tips!
• Potential technical disasters.
• Publicise the results of your grave-hunts.
• Contact with other grave-hunters.
• What else have we learned?
• Research Unexpected pleasures (and disappointments).
• These are gravestones, but you have to laugh sometimes…..!
• Review of our year of 2015.
• More projects.
• Conclusion.

This book is now available from both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Claire and Martin Nicholson - Shropshire, UK (January 2016)

"Case opened" and "Case adjourned".

 Bransford Cemetery, Bransford, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

This is situated opposite the church of St John the Baptist.

"Case opened" and "Case adjourned".

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

This married couple "died together".

 Wythall Cemetery, Wythall, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

General view

This married couple "died together".

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

This married couple died on consecutive days.

 Wythall Cemetery, Wythall, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

 

General view

 

 

This married couple died on consecutive days.

 

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

The most notable monument in the church is that to Lucy Lyttleton, died 1747.

 St John the Baptist, Hagley, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

This parish church has 13th century origins. It was partly rebuilt 1754-6 by Sanderson Miller, the north aisle and arcade added in 1828 by Rickman and it was partly rebuilt and re-modelled again in 1858-65 by Street

The most notable monument in the church is that by by Roubiliac to Lucy Lyttleton, died 1747, to a design by Sir Charles Frederick with a putto seated next to an urn.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Freddy White was accidentally drowned aged 41/2 years.

 St Leonard, Frankley, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The church dates from the 15th century. It was altered around 1751 when the wooden tower was rebuilt in stone, restored in 1873 and there were other alterations and additions 1931 – 1932 by Bateman. There was another restoration in 1947 following a fire.

Freddy White was accidentally drowned aged 4 1/2 years.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Note the spelling error and that Harriett Butler died 11 days after giving birth.

 Kingswood Meeting House, Bateman's Green, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

The original Kingswood Meeting House is said to have been built in 1708 in Dark Lane. It was damaged in 1715 during the Tory Riots and totally destroyed in the Priestley Riots of 1791 being attacked on the morning of Sunday the 17th July by a mob who "proceeded to pull down and burn the Meeting House and in a short time reduced it to ashes." The present building is a Victorian reconstruction of the 1792 building but much of the old work remains.

 



 

Note the spelling error and that Harriett Butler died 11 days after giving birth.

 

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

The wall memorial to Lady Mary Cookes, died 1694.

St Bartholomew, Tardebridge, Worcestershire 

(Click on an image for a larger version)

It seems certain that there was a church, ‘dedicated to St Bartholomew’, on the site in 1138. This was when the parish of Tardebigge formed part of the endowment of Bordesley Abbey. The present St Bartholomew’s is not the (seemingly much grander) church described in the eighteenth century. Despite its ‘imposing monuments’ and ‘stately pillars’, that building was effectively destroyed when the tower collapsed in September 1775. The rebuilding of the church was completed in 1777, in a position slightly to the north of the old one.

The wall memorial to Lady Mary Cookes, died 1694, has barley sugar columns, and a relief medallion of Mary and her husband.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Robert had 17 children - all appear on his memorial

 St Michael, Stoke Prior, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

This beautiful Grade 1 listed church was built from 1140, possibly on the site of an earlier church. It still retains a number of late Norman features. The tower was built c1200, with the spire added much later. There was a major Victorian restoration in 1894-5, paid for by John Corbett who owned the Salt Works at Stoke Works and lived at Chateau Impney in Droitwich.

Robert Smith was a Draper and a member of the
"Company of Merchant Adventurers of England".

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Killed "while dismantling a mine".

 St Michael, Upton Warren, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

The Church probably existed at the time of the Domesday Book survey, but was rebuilt before 1300, and consecrated that year. The present building largely dates to the 18th century; the chancel being rebuilt in 1724 and the nave in 1798. The tower dates to the late 15th century.

Killed "while dismantling a mine".

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

This is the first time I have seen a pair of high-heeled shoes depicted on a gravestone.

 St Nicholas, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

St Nicholas' Church is the most recent of the Anglican Church buildings in Droitwich. Although the name has been used for other church buildings before the current one, the present day church is a Victorian building.

This is the first time I have seen a pair of high-heeled shoes depicted on a gravestone.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

The infant twin daughters of Samuel and Ellen Wilson died 4 days apart.

 St Mary and All Angels, Hampton Lovett, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

This grade I listed parish church dates back to the early 12th century. It has 14th -16th century additions and alterations and was restored in 1858 -9.

The infant twin daughters of Samuel and Ellen Wilson died 4 days apart.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

"In memory of a saint unknown to man ..."

 St Mary, Elmbridge, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

This small sandstone church was rebuilt in 1873 but retains a 12th century south doorway and Norman pillars and capitals in the north arcade.

"In memory of a saint unknown to man ..."

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

John Fitzpatrick died in an "oil rig disaster" in Egypt in 1974.

Redditch Crematorium, Redditch, Worcestershire 

(Click on an image for a larger version)

General views show how well the site has been maintained. Well done to all concerned.

John Fitzpatrick died in an "oil rig disaster" in Egypt in 1974.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

A superb and highly detailed memorial to a footballer.

 Redditch Crematorium, Redditch, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

 

General views show how well the site has been maintained. Well done to all concerned.

 

 

A superb and highly detailed memorial to a footballer.

 

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

 

Even in the 20th century child mortality was a serious problem.

 Redditch Crematorium, Redditch, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

General views show how well the site has been maintained. Well done to all concerned.

Even in the 20th century child mortality was a serious problem.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!

Four children of John and Sarah London died in their childhood.

 Redditch Cemetery, Redditch, Worcestershire

(Click on an image for a larger version)

Only a small percentage of grave sites have a commemorative marker.

Four children of John and Sarah London died in their childhood.

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Keep up to date with all my grave-hunting news and discoveries via my daily postings to the Social History group. Just click on the grave to apply!