I'm a keen genealogist, and I've got a lot of old family members buried at Northam, and next door Appledore. A lot were mariners, and especially at Appledore, the graves are a treasure trove of information on where and how people died. Each one a separate tragedy, long forgotten, until I research it again. With regard to the age of the stones, most of the earlier gravestones were removed, and the graves reused, which is why the older ones are rarer. Also, only the very rich could afford proper stone gravestones and most were unmarked. If you notice the ground is always higher around churches, as the ground rises due to all of the burials over the centuries.
Thank you 😊 You know a lot more than me about this stuff. Yeah I read that the church has a tendency of re-using plots for burials. That's why most of the older headstones I find are next to walls or paths etc. Been moved. I guess I'm just spoilt where I live 🤣 I'm used to seeing lots of 1700s graves.
I'm a keen genealogist, and I've got a lot of old family members buried at Northam, and next door Appledore. A lot were mariners, and especially at Appledore, the graves are a treasure trove of information on where and how people died. Each one a separate tragedy, long forgotten, until I research it again. With regard to the age of the stones, most of the earlier gravestones were removed, and the graves reused, which is why the older ones are rarer. Also, only the very rich could afford proper stone gravestones and most were unmarked. If you notice the ground is always higher around churches, as the ground rises due to all of the burials over the centuries.
Thank you 😊 You know a lot more than me about this stuff. Yeah I read that the church has a tendency of re-using plots for burials. That's why most of the older headstones I find are next to walls or paths etc. Been moved. I guess I'm just spoilt where I live 🤣 I'm used to seeing lots of 1700s graves.