Wednesday 21 September 2016

Today we entertained the cheeky robin again as he watched us with great curiosity going about our churchyard survey.

We are still working our way across the large area on the north-east corner where there are rows of un-marked graves. 

We ended  up with a sea of white flags marking them out in their approximate positions according to the burial plan. 

Alan's "rain dance"

The main challenge today was a collapsed monument which had been a cross on a large double-tier plinth. Many of the lead letters had fallen off, and some of the inscriptions were hidden under the tumbled cross, which was too heavy to move.

Alan also wanted to have another go at RTI photography on a memorial stone which similarly had the inscription made from lead letters. Although we have had great success using RTI - even on memorials where the lead letters have completely fallen away - this particular gravestone had not come out well from last week’s photographs. Perhaps the surface of the stone was too pitted to allow enough distinction between stone and lettering. Let’s hope this week’s photographs turn out better.

Our good intentions to resume surveying after our afternoon tea break (thanks for another delicious chocolate cake, Jennifer!) came to nothing as it started to rain about 4pm, so we called it a day.

 Jane Lunnon.