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‘Snatching history from the hands of time’
Notes on procedure and interpretation
A survey of the gravestones and their inscriptions was carried out between May 2007 and August 2009 by members of the Lynsted with Kingsdown Society. Care was taken to avoid damage to the lettering and to minimise disturbance to the lichens growing on the stone surfaces.
The grave positions on the plan are indicative only. The position of a given stone is not intended to be precise, but its relative location with respect to neighbouring graves, trees and structures should be reasonably accurate. The graves, grouped in sectors, have been numbered in a sequence beginning in the sector west of the main gate in Ludgate Lane and moving in a clockwise direction around the church building. Within the sectors, numbering is, as far as feasible, in rows running east to west alternating with west to east, i.e. ‘shuttle-wise’.
Some footstones, being relatively light, have been moved, at some time in the past, to the boundary of the churchyard. No attempt has been made to ‘match’ these to their original graves. Two batches of footstones, 13 to 25, and 59 to 69, together with other smaller stones or fragments, are in stacks against the boundary wall and are marked as groups on the plan. Other individual footstones are also against the boundary wall, as indicated. Footstones are recorded individually, unless in their original positions and/or clearly associated with a grave. Two memorials, numbers 158 and 159, are set into the wall of the mausoleum extension at the south east of the church. Fragments of masonry, crosses, etc, bearing no inscription, have not been recorded.
The approximate extent of a tree canopy at the time of recording has been represented on the map as a disk. The bole of the tree should be taken as in the centre of the disk.
Regarding stone composition, ‘limestone’ has been used as a term to include marble and ragstone, where weathering has made the exact nature of the stone uncertain. Composition was tested by the dilute acid method.
The inscription record is as observed on the stones. No attempt has been made to guess at obscure or missing letters or numbers. Spelling is as engraved. Following accepted procedure, all names have been recorded in capitals and all other text in lower case, whether or not this is so on the stones. The record is, of course, the ‘best estimate’ of the lettering at the time. No doubt further letters, and indeed errors, will reveal themselves under different conditions of lighting, etc. Anyone who makes such discoveries is encouraged to contact the Society. Telephone contacts can be found here.
This record of inscriptions has been supplemented by corresponding images in a larger, A4, reference booklet that is lodged in the church for visitors to consult. The complete written and pictorial record is also to be found on this web site.
Acknowledgements
The Lynsted with Kingsdown Society is most grateful to the Lynsted-with-Kingsdown Parochial Church Council for kindly allowing access to the graveyard; to David Wood, Churchwarden, for discussions on his earlier researches on the inscriptions within and outside the church; to Margaret Burns, Kent Family History Society, for advice and an invaluable introductory workshop; and to Andrew Ashbee for helpful advice from time to time. The practical help of several members of the Teynham and Lynsted Historical Society is also gratefully acknowledged.
The Levelled Churchyard
‘O Passenger, pray list and catch
Our sighs and piteous groans,
Half stifled in this jumbled patch
Of wretched memorial stones!
‘We late-lamented, rested here,
Are mixed to human jam,
And each to each exclaims in fear,
“I know not what I am!”
‘The wicked people have annexed
The verses on the good;
A roaring drunkard sports the text
Teetotal Tommy should!
‘Where we are huddled none can trace,
And if our names remain,
They pave some path or porch or place
Where we have never lain!
‘Here’s not a modest maiden elf
But dreads the final Trumpet,
Lest half of her should rise herself,
And half some sturdy strumpet!
‘From restorations of Thy fane,
From smoothing of Thy sward,
From zealous Churchmen’s pick and plane
Deliver us O Lord! Amen.’
Thomas Hardy
1882
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