Libury Hall Burials.

Farming at Libury Hall

SJ Howitt writes: There is an unmarked plot with a simple stone marked "For the foreign persons who died at Libury Hall and are buried in this place" at St Edmund and The English Martyrs RC Church Old Hall Green.

There are some named records but not all and re the 1st World War internments according to the NRA at Kew these would have been lost during the bombing of Red Cross Geneva 1940.

A Note on Hertfordshire Parish Graveyards

Grave boards at Ayot St Lawrence from a postcard published circa 1905.

I frequently get requests from people who have discovered that their ancestor was buried in a particular parish and are planning to visit - so a brief summary of what they might find is appropriate.

Before about 1800 nearly all burials would have been marked with wooden grave boards, such as the above examples, and some were still being used a hundred years later. Typically after 50 year the wood would be rotten and for many centuries the grave would have been renewed. The very few graveboards that remain will be completely unreadable unless they have been renewed. 

While a few late 17th century grave were given headstones they typical materials used in Hertfordshire mean that often it is not even possible to see if there was an inscription. During the 19th century the use of gravestones became common - and in most of the towns the churchyards fill up and town cemeteries were opened - and burials ceased in the church graveyard. 

Maintaining a graveyard full of stones of the long deceased can be an expensive business and many church graveyards have been tidies up - particularly in towns. This may (if you are lucky) means laying the stone flat - inscription up - so it can be mowed over. In other cases stones are leaned against the churchyard wall, used to make paths (and in one case I have seen the walls round a compost heap) or taken to the tip. - Some 50 years ago I was horrified to find that the beautiful pink granite slab on one of my great great grandfather's tombs had been scrapped in this way.

So if you are planning a visit be sure to check the burial register (at HALS or online at FindMyPast). Find out if the Herts Family History Society have indexed what is left. It can also help to look for online photographs of the church (Google satellite or street views, Geograph, etc) to see if any tombstones remain.

Parish Registers

Further advice on family events is available on the main web site - although some has not yet been updated to include the latest online sources.

Was John Sergius Fothergill really buried alive? I don't think so.

Memorial Brass in St Albans Abbey

Following my recent post on Harpsfield Hall I got a message from Anthony drawing my attention to the will of John Sergius Fothergill of Harpsfield Hall, proved on 12th April 1836. I decided to look further and Ancestry directed me to billiongraves.com which had a picture of this memorial tablet in St Albans Abbey recording the death of as taking place on 24th March 1836. Clearly getting Probate was very much quicker in those days than it is today. So next I checked familysearch which told me he died and surprisingly was buried the same day, 24th March, in  St Albans Cathedral. This information is sourced to an unnamed affiliate - but the reference number suggests the affiliate was the billiongraves web site.

So I decided to check the burial record of FindMyPast and was told that he was buried at St Albans Abbey on 18th March 1836, at the age of 70, So he was buried six days before the brass plaque say he died! How uncomfortable for him. (At the time he was buried St Albans Abbey was not a Cathedral and the modern official name is "The Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Albans" - see Wikipedia)

So was he buried alive? Of course not? And if further proof was needed  the Northampton Mercury of 19th March 1836 which read "On the 11th instant, at St Albans, John Sergius Fothergill, Esq. of Harpsfield Hall, Herts, in his 70th year." and further searching shows that the same message appeared in the Bucks Herald and Oxford Journal of 19th March, the Herts Mercury of 22nd March, and the Chelmsford Chronicle of 25th March. (In all these cases the name Harpsfield had been misread in the scan, which is why I hadn't found them earlier.)

There is an important lesson here. All records, however impressive they look, both contemporary and modern, can contain errors and while researching you are almost certain to make one or two errors yourself on occasions. The answer is to check everything and be aware that the information you have accepted in good faith may be wrong.

Drowning Accident - William Williams of Cheshunt - obit 1782

A typical 18th centure
gravestone

In silence here beneath a youth is laid

By whom the sports of nature were survey'd

With ravished breast o'er meads he did pursue

The started hare which o'er the landskip flew

By which pursuit his heart oprest with heat

Plung'd in the stream which nature thought so sweet

But now the stream a change to nature gave

And plung'd this youth deep in the silent grave.

An epitaph from Cheshunt recorded in Cream of Curiosity

Thoughts from a Country Churchyard

A typical late 18th century gravestone

When this you see remember me

And think now I am gone,

You may walk out and seek about

And not find such a one.

Memorial Inscription from the Churchyard at Ardeley

Recorded in Cream of Curiosity

Knebworth Memorial Inscriptions and Burial Records

Memorial Information for St Mary & St Martin, and Burial information for St Martin,  is available online for Knebsworth. Thank Valerie for drawing this to my attention,