Church of England Burial Mapping Project

[Bordercollie]

You may have seen reports in the press of the work being done by Atlantic Geometrics to map Church of England burial grounds.  I thought it was worth highlighting here as war graves are being specifically identified on the maps.   This is one of the pilot study maps now available which includes the war grave of Gunner James Francis Carter who died on 26th October 1918.

https://kirkburton.burialgrounds.co.uk/mapmanagement/#/memorialmanagement/7f170bf8-c00e-4ab7-b399-42b69e5feb71/war_grave

By clicking on photos in the top righthand corner you can bring up a photograph of the headstone.  The date given if you hover over the grave on the map is 6th November 1918.  I assume it is supposed to be the date of death which both the headstone and CWGC give as 26th October 1918.  I have left feedback to query whether this is an error.

The press reported that there are 19,000 churchyards to be mapped and they plan to complete ten a day which means it will take about seven years to complete the project. 

[Knotty]

Nice find Bordercollie

He died in Aldershot 26/10, and buried in Huddersfield on 6/11, if you tap on his name it gives you the burial details, which are totally feasible considering the distances involved to transport the body and the necessary legal paperwork and arrangement of church ceremony.

[Bardess]

This will be incredibly useful for those of us outside the UK. How did you register to be able to search an area?

[GraemeClarke]

Morning,

Diane

https://www.burialgrounds.co.uk/login/

https://www.atlanticgeomatics.co.uk/burial-ground-management-system

 

Brilliant idea but why the awful photos in this particular case ?

Regards,

Graeme

 

Edited 16 September , 2021 by GraemeClarke

[Bardess]

Thanks for the links, Graeme. It seems to be a private endeavour

[Kath]

I wonder if they know aout Find a Grave?

https://www.findagrave.com/

[Bordercollie]

10 hours ago, Knotty said:

Nice find Bordercollie

He died in Aldershot 26/10, and buried in Huddersfield on 6/11, if you tap on his name it gives you the burial details, which are totally feasible considering the distances involved to transport the body and the necessary legal paperwork and arrangement of church ceremony.

Thanks Knotty, yes Atlantic Geometrics confirm that it is the date of burial that pops up when you hover over a memorial.  Apparently they use that because it is invariably available from the burial register whereas the date of death may not be available to them.

[Bordercollie]

1 hour ago, Bardess said:

Thanks for the links, Graeme. It seems to be a private endeavour

Yes Atlantic Geometrics has been contracted by the Church of England to map their 19,000 churchyards, funded by Historic England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Caring for God's Acre. It is said that "The new free web-based record system is due to launch next spring, with the option to subscribe to additional services." No indication yet about the positioning of the boundary between free and additional services for which a subscription will be necessary

[Bardess]

Thanks Bc; we'll all need to be patient

[TEW]

Certainly looks a promising project. Looking quickly through the site it looks something akin to Google Streetview. Walk through the cemetery and the tech is mapping the memorials & taking pictures which is then cross referenced to parish burial records.

A few I looked at have even spotted original errors in the parish records and made corrections. None of those Ancestry type mis-transcriptions.

I note Kirkbuton church has been there ~800 years, I wonder how the project will cope with early registers and/or absence of memorials, illegible memorials or no plots given?

Could well give Find A Grave a run for its money. I've found Find a Grave frustrating due to memorials being managed by individuals who cannot take a decent photo, can't or won't transcribe a memorial, don't understand GPS while 'managing' ~ 500,000 memorials nowhere near their location and who will not correct any suggestions.

TEW