From the Church Rambler – A Series of Articles on the Churches in the Neighbourhood of Bath by Harold Lewis (1876):
‘The church itself consists of a chancel, nave and tower, to which a vestry has been added, but it was restored in 1851 on very utilitarian principles . . .’
Churchyard
The churchyard consists of two sections: old and new. In the old section (west, north and south of the church), in the 1980s, the memorials were removed and placed against the southern and western walls, leaving only a small number in situ. The burial register (entry 553) specifies that ‘various 18th & 19th century human remains excavated during the archaeological dig’ were buried on 7 Sep 1994 in front of grave 1.16. (This corresponds to Row A of the new section near the Selman chest tomb.)
The new section dates from 1894 when the churchyard was extended to the east. The land had been donated by Major Lamorock Flower and there is a plaque commemorating this on the northern wall. This new section has the graves arranged in a grid with rows A-O going from west to east and plot numbers 1-27 going from south to north.
The south-western part of the old section
The new section
Cremated Remains
There are five areas along the walls of the churchyward which have been used for the burial of ashes. In the period 1973 until about 1990 the burial of cremated remains in the churchyard were not entered into the burial register. There is however a ‘cremation book’ in the church which lists the names of those whose cremated remains were buried. The memorials in these areas are mainly small wooden crosses with the initials of the individuals.
Previous Surveys
There have been a number of surveys of the churchyard over recent decades: between 1960 and 1982 by Frank Vine, in 1988 by Gordon Reed and Eddie Cooper, in 1999 by Miriam Hare and in 2004 by Nigel Newbery. The 2004 documentation states that ‘no attempt has been made to replicate individual type styles’ and the sizes of font and the use of italics don’t reproduce the actual appearance of the inscriptions. This documentation was not generally available.
In this survey an attempt has been made to show the general forms of the inscriptions using different font sizes etc. In addition reference has been made to the parish register where there are ambiguities in the names and dates.
