Genealogy Chat

Morning all

I've been researching family history for about 15 years or so and spent many days visiting grave yards of villages where my family where from.

I have had a few successes but on the whole I rarely find anything from looking st gravestones in the local chart.

Is this because most people let's say before 1800s where buried in communal graves with no headstone or the common folk couldn't afford one?

If anyone can signpost so to anything to read up about it would appreciate it

Thanks

Being unable to afford a headstone is not confined to any time period.

Headstones can deteriorate over a period of time and may have been removed.

Some graves are reused after a period of time so I would think the charts are the most reliable.

Many of my ancestors were of limited means, not destitute and receiving money from the parish, but with no spare funds for 'extras'.
Consequently there is often a poor paper trail to keep track of them.
Church burial records though will often record their names.

Sometimes vicars are super helpful.
I came across online records for a parish in Surrey and each person's grave plot was recorded, so even if no memorial was erected there, it should be possible to find the location.

Some places, especially large towns have strict rules about use of graves.
When I enquired about a grave in Portsmouth, the authority told me the location and which cemetery, but warned that I had no rights on that plot, as it had only been leased for limited years and had since been reused. I was therefore told that I could not erect any memorial or even leave flowers.

As nameslessone says, stones become unreadable, although there are non-invasive ways that can help with reading them.
Some actual church buildings have plans of their graveyard and some have a named key to plots, so it's always worth asking locally.

I have also found named gravestones on the perimeter of a churchyard, when they have been moved to help with maintaining the grounds.

I have also located a grave by looking at burial records and noting other names from around that time. I was fortunate that the people buried either side of my family member both had named stone memorials, so it was easy to find Charles' spot between them.

Re unreadable headstones. I was with a friend looking for her family gravestones. There was one among the graves where the writing seemed completely worn away. After she moved on to other headstones the light changed and we could read everything on it. The light changed again and there was nothing.

That's a good hint.
I've heard that taking a small torch and shining it from different directions would have the same result, but taking a 2nd look in a different light sounds such a simple good idea.

Sometimes,splashing water on the stone aids readability.