Graveyard List
A revised graveyard list for St Mary’s Church has now been completed and a printed copy is now
in the Church, as well as a searchable CD in the Parish Office and Archive Room. Just over 2,000
graves in the churchyard are recorded and all plots with the exception of the most recent extension
at the western end of the graveyard are covered. This register would not have been possible without
the efforts of those who have helped to transcribe headstones in the past. In particular the
Fairford Women’s Institute made an extensive record of the visible headstones in the 1980s.
Information was also found in Bigland’s survey of 1791 which listed major tombs and headstones
in the churchyard at that date. In addition burial notes relating to the Garden Section have been
immensely useful, especially as this plot has suffered from some confusion in the grave numbering
in the past as several rows have been started and then restarted at a much later date.
Unfortunately many of the older burials in the original plots around the Church cannot now
be positively identified.
In addition to using the records of previous surveys this register is also the result of many
hours spent recording, photographing and listing all the visible grave markers in the churchyard.
The Fairford parish registers which list burials from 1617 to the mid-20th Century have also been
of great use and have enabled the identification of several of the older gravestones. Over 3,000
photographs have been taken of the memorials.
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