Ropley Gravestones Project
The gravestone project was started in 2019 to photograph all the memorials in Ropley churchyard. A transcription survey was done in the 1980s and this has been published by the Hampshire Genealogical Society (HGS). The church also has a similar list created by an earlier vicar in the 1990s. These two documents have been used to provide a checklist and also a method for location mapping.
As the church was destroyed by fire in 2014 no other records exist for burial location. In the 30-40 years since these two surveys some grave markers have disappeared and many inscriptions on stones have deteriorated and are difficult or impossible to read, there are therefore 30 years’ worth of graves not yet listed.
Before rebuilding started for the church a geo-physical survey was done of the churchyard and this is good enough to show the gravestones. We have been able to get access to the charts and simplify them so that they can be published on the RHN&A web site to act as charts for grave location.
As of early 2023 499 graves have been photographed and published online together with maps/charts for 5 of the 10 sections into which the churchyard has been divided. The work continues with the next phase requiring some spade work to unearth buried sill type gravestones. This work is to form a package as part of a Duke of Edinburgh award project for some village youngsters.
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