Wednesday 25 May 2016
With summer fast approaching
we turned up in our winter togs for another chilly day surveying the
gravestones. The winds were too strong to allow for RTI so much of the morning
was taken up using triangulation to measure in the locations of ledger stones
in the Garden of Remembrance.
One of the problems with a churchyard
is that apart from the church building and the lych gate there are virtually no
other fixed reference points – trees, boundary walls, pathway lights – these can
all be moved or even disappear within a generation, so cannot be used.
Triangulation can be quite inaccurate once you are so far from the fixed points
that the tape bows no matter how hard you try to pull the tape straight. This
has been a bit of a problem with the gravestones. We have considered obtaining
a laser such as estate agents often use, but by the very nature of churchyards
there’s usually another gravestone or a tree in the direct line of sight which
would break the laser beam. We also thought about using a GPS unit – but the
hand-held units are not accurate enough – a margin of error of 2 to 3 metres is
of little use to distinguish gravestones that are less than a metre apart.
The answer would be a
theodolite of course – but that’s beyond our budget. We may be able to borrow
one sometime – it’s something we may investigate as it’s important to know
exactly where each burial plot is when you are dealing with a still active
church.
At least with the ledger
stones, lying flat on the ground, we can lay the measuring tape along the
ground and this ensures an accurate reading – although there is the danger of losing the occasional volunteer in the flower beds.
There may also be some undiginified clambering under table tombs!
Lunch inside the church was interesting
– whilst sampling Jennifer’s delicious marmalade cake we managed to hold a
conversation over the noise of the roofing work taking place above us. Despite
the weather closing in the builders seemed to be enjoying themselves, with lots
of laughter which kept us entertained.
We tried in the afternoon to
carry on with some recording work but after an hour or so the rain set in and
we had to abandon ship.
Jane Lunnon.
