Initially this land was donated by Charles Joseph Corbett in 1873. There is a commemorative stone by the Lych Gate. This burial ground is the current siting and collective point of headstones previously situated at different points in Danehill village. See DPHS The Churches and Chapels of Danehill July 2007 for a more in-depth study of this. As a society our connection with the burial ground in 2021 really began when Emma Fulham, the Danehill Parish Clerk, asked Jennie Marten our chairman, if DPHS would look at various photocopied registers and relate them to the surviving headstones. This sounds much easier than it proved to be. To anyone who has visited the burial ground it is apparent that, in the older part of the ground, rows may best be described as ‘random’. It took us several weeks to reach an understanding of the records. At various times, possibly under new rules, the mode of recording completely changed, but without any indication of the correlation between the older records and the new. Add to this the records for the diocese that have different requirements to the civil registrations, plus an old, traced map which we tentatively think dates to the inter-war years and has yet another recording approach without accompanying explanation, it really has been an ‘Interesting’ exercise. You will now realise what this amazing DPHS team has achieved, I will introduce them: Team Leaders - Jennie and Sue. Recorders, scribes, ‘archaeologists’ (you try scrabbling around some time in a foot or more of brambles and ant nests searching for evidence), IT experts (and I mean experts), photographers, archivists foraging in our extensive research documents as well as at The Keep and not forgetting the caterers. Anne, Mae, Jenny, Clare, Sonia, Gerry, Elizabeth, Bryan, John, Chris and Mat have worked diligently and we have all learned new skills along the way. Where were you? By the ‘end’ of the field work part of the project, thanks to Clare, we ended our afternoons with tea/coffee and cakes and lots of laughter in the Lych Gate. This is not the end. We will be building on the late Phil Lucas’ team work on family history. If you are able to contribute information/photographs please let us know. There will be discrepancies, sometimes called mistakes, when you spot these don’t just talk amongst yourselves –TELL US at : [email protected]. And we will endeavour to correct them. We are now continuing the paper trail. Once more we are benefiting enormously from the work carried out by former DPHS members under the guidance of the late Phil Lucas. Our team has new members whilst others can rest on their laurels. I am delighted to have Dilys and Elizabeth working with us. Why not join in? Everyone is welcome. Sue Back to Burial Ground Main Page
