Researching Fletching Graves fletchinggraves.org

I have been asked to draw your attention to the existence of this website, on which are recorded details of the headstones in Fletching Churchyard. It was developed by my son Simon, who is a computer programmer, enabling me to record and update the findings of my research. A link on the Fletching Parish Church website will take you to it. There have been enquiries from around the UK and from as far away as Australia and Canada.

Researching family history is popular now and this resource is very useful. Over 700 graves with their inscriptions are recorded.

My involvement came about in the 1980s, when Denis Kenward was Churchwarden here at Fletching, and also Chairman of Fletching Parish Council. Denis came from a long line of Piltdown farmers from Moons Farm and surrounds. Several of his ancestors are buried in the churchyard. He had noticed that many of the inscriptions on the stones were becoming illegible. There is no legal requirement to record inscriptions, but he thought it would be a worthwhile undertaking. Because of my interest in social history I volunteered to help, and so started years of work.

We would meet when the weather was fine and we could be seen crawling around on our hands and knees, starting at the oldest part, around the church. We devised means of deciphering the inscriptions: lolly sticks (available from Bernard Trew at the village shop), which were soft wood when we had eaten the lolly and ideal for carefully removing lichen! Spraying with water and shining a torch on the lettering also worked sometimes.

Some inscriptions are incised and some are lead overlay, which are easier to read if complete. Using notebooks we recorded names, dates of birth and death and any other information. All was recorded as a facsimile, complete with the shape of the stone.

Sadly Denis died in 2007 - he is buried in the churchyard - and we weren't able to finish the project before he died. I eventually resumed the task on my own and have continued to this day.

There are 5 Commonwealth Commission graves, and Daniel Hattrell is buried there who fought at Waterloo. He survived, returned to Fletching and died at the age of 81.

Among many other interesting graves are those of Jimmy Edwards, the comedian, and his brother Alan who farmed Atheralls.

Sonia Harriyott