Uncovering The Past part 1

 All Saints Churchyard is a wonderful green space surrounding the Church building. A space with with a variety of wildflowers, insects and birds, it also has a number of monuments and gravestones, I have mentioned a couple of the notable memorials on previous posts. When we are working the Churchyard these memorials are a reminder of of the past, our shared past where people lived, raised families and faced the difficulties of the time, for example reading many of the inscriptions makes one aware of the high rate of infant and child mortality. From time to time when clearing and sweeping a gravestone we come across one that is buried under years of leaf mold. Clearing the surface of one such stone only lightly covered we came across the edge of another completely buried. Slowly carefully we are clearing the surface, it is beautifully decorated with a very detailed inscription. Tantalisingly a date 1877 and the words 'New Orleans' clearly readable among the visible script. It is very exciting to get this glimpse into the past and reveal something that has been hidden for so many years. 

In my next post hopefully we have cleared it and be able to give more details.