Grave plots are generally three feet wide and six feet long. Most grave plots are arranged in rows. The very first thing when recording an historic graveyard is to identify the row arrangements. Be patient and let the patterns reveal themselves - we prefer to find the straightest row (often along a boundary wall) and start there. Then we number the memorials (using strips of masking tape with numbers stuck to the back of the memorials) and sketch the relative location of the memorials. With practice, surprisingly accurate plans can be drawn. We have been using A4 ruled pages for the drawings but Robin Turk has just designed a new template sheet for the plans.

Sketch Plan Template (Right click this link and save target as to download)

The key tools we use in reading headstones are the sun and the human eye. Oblique sunlight casts shadows on incised inscriptions allowing patterns to be recognised and words to be read. Patience is rewarded in graveyard recording when that perfect moment arrives and a previously undecipherable inscription is lit up by the sun emerging from behind the clouds. Using a mirror to bounce the sunlight during afternoon recording sessions onto the headstone face gives surprisingly good results. 
Rubbing grass, soil, chalk and other foreigh substances onto a stone are all less effective than the use of a torch and mirror and are strongly discouraged. They do not work and they may damage the memorial stone. Read more »

It is easy to miss St John’s cemetery in Kells Co. Meath as it is tucked away behind a large stone wall on Headfort Place to the south of the town. It also gets somewhat overshadowed by St Columba’s graveyard located on the top of the hill which contains numerous high crosses, an early church and a round tower. St John’s cemetery however is interesting in its own right and is well worth a visit. The Historic Graves project used the graveyard as a location for one of our workshops which forms part of an historic graveyard care and conservation course which we are presently running in conjunction with Meath Partnership.  Read more »

We have commenced two months graveyard training in Co. Limerick, funded by Ballyhoura Leader and in collaboration with Limerick County Council. The first graveyard we worked in today is St. John's, Knockainey and amongst many intriguing stories Michael Quinlan lead us to the headstone of a man who died, apparently aged 219. We will measure and analyse the dimensions of the numbers, letters and associated spaces to see can we decipher the meaning of this carved inscription.

A number of local authorities in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork have combined to organise an Historic Graveyards Roadshow which will commence in March 2012. Supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, the Local Authorities and Historic Graves, this roadshow will combine training in heritage conservation, archaeology, local history and genealogy for community groups and schools in a number of communities. Read more »