Continuing our RTI project with the New Forest Park Authority, where we have completed a number of captures at Emery Down, Burley and Minstead, and Copythorne, Archaeovision spent a day at St Michael & All Angels church in Lyndhurst capturing a number of gravestones, including Listed tomb (List entry 1094726). The current church building, which is the third on the site, was built between 1858-69 during the Victorian period. The churchyard is known as the last resting place of Alice Hargreaves (who inspired the Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll) and contains a number of gravestones, all of which contain hard to read inscriptions.

The recording completed by Archaeovision falls under the Heritage Lottery funded Our Past, Our Future project which incorporates community based outreach within their Rediscovering and Conserving Our Archaeological Heritage sub-project. This event also took place in collaboration with the New Forest Staff Discovery day.

The results of the RTI survey, as well as the volunteer documentation project will provide a snapshot of the graveyard today, and will help define a management plan for the graveyard for the future, whilst identifying monuments that require conservation. All the data captured will be made publicly available, allowing residents or visitors to trace family members and their resting places, and local history groups to undertake research to discover more about the area’s past.

The following RTI examples provide a before and after snapshot of the results collected at Lyndhurst. Similar to the inscriptions at Minstead, those found at Lyndhurst are extremely worn and hard to decipher, even with RTI. The text has been digitised for those who may find it hard to identify all of the features, but parts of the inscriptions are missing due to the the deterioration of the gravestones.

In
Memory of
Robert Cole
of Lyndhurst who died at Bath
December 1st 1881
Aged 62 years

Not lost but gone before

Also
Anna Maria
Wife of the above who died

In loving memory of
Rose Eva Maud Norbury
who departed this life
December 15th 1880
Aged 2 years, 11 months
–
Also
Edward Sloane Stanley Norbury
who died February 24th 1883
Aged 2 years
–
Suffer little children to come unto me

…
…
Edward Southouse Esq
Who died September 1 1810
Aged 77(?) Years

Is likewise to the memory of

Francis his wife
Who died January …
Aged … Years

And … Son
Charles Southouse
Who died September 10 …
Aged 81(?) Years