In the sleepy agricultural village of Ireby in Cumbria, is the Parish church dedicated to St James.

A monument to the fallen in World War I and II reads:

In memory of the men

Ireby, Cumbria - War Memorial

of this parish who
gave their lives
in the war

1914- 1918

William Carlisle
John Graham
George Lawman
William Lawman
Ben Pattinson
j Dixon Pearson
Joseph Smithson

and in the war

1939 – 1945

Harry Stephens
Joseph Strong
Frank Vipond
Tom Watson

St Jame's church, Ireby

This new church replaced the earlier 12th century building about 1 mile further away and itself is built on the remnants of an old medieval church, especially noticeable in the build of the north wall.  However, most of the structure dates back to it’s early 18th century construction.

The font, which is thought to date from the 18th century sits on an earlier medieval base brought from the original church.

Internal memorials are dedicated to Thomas Thomlinson 1803 and in the chancel, to the Gillbanks family of Whitfield house, who’s vault is in the church.

In the small cemetery, most gravestones are dated around the 18th and 19th centuries.  Any older burials will be sited at the old church but most of these gravestones have now gone.

CA7 1HA
OS Grid Reference: NY2401137930
OS Grid Coordinates: 324011, 537930
Latitude/Longitude: 54.7306, -3.1815

To date, we have been unable to find any transcription records for St. Jame’s church burials in Ireby or for the older Norman church, but if anybody knows different, please do contact us via the comments section at the end of this article.

One of our readers has kindly provided us with a document detailing the burials at Ettleton Cemetery in Newcastleton.

The monument to William Armstrong of Sorbitrees towers above those of others in the small cemetery

Newcastleton sits on the Scottish border in, Roxburghshire and Ettleton cemetery is dominated by Border Reiver names such as Armstrong, Beattie, Crozier and Elliot, of which the largest monument in the cemetery belongs to William Armstrong of Sorbytrees.

The hand typed list provides detailed grave inscriptions for over 250 gravestones and monuments and is a great resource for anybody researching border reiver family history.

It is not known when this list was compiled, but dates on the stones range from early 18th century to mid 20th century.

The provenance and completeness of this list is unknown and was thought to have been collated by somebody researching family genealogy.  However, it is obvious that he or she applied many hours to this enterprise.

Grave stone inscription records such as this are usually collected for private family history research but they play an incredibly important role for others around the world.

We cannot be responsible for the accuracy of the list, and as far as we are aware there are no copyright issues, but please do contact us if you have other information.

Many thanks to the person who took the time to collect this information and to our kind reader, who after using it to research her own family genealogy, has allowed us to publish it for the benefit of others.

The church yard of St. Michael’s in Dalston, Cumbria could have come straight out of a novel by J.R.R Tolkien.

Tiny gravestones look as though they are sprouting from the earth

In the mists of an autumn morning, we came across 30 or so small gravestones about 18 inches in height and 12 inches wide,  this was something we had never seen in a Cumbrian church yard before and it felt like we had suddenly been transported to the Shires of Middle Earth.

Then a sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach at the thought that all the graves were of infants and that some epidemic befell the Victorians of Dalston.  However, closer inspection revealed that these are just normal graves, representing a wide selection of the population and all dating around the late 19th century.

Victorian flamboyance

Victorian gravestones are renowned for being quite large, well carved and often ostentatious and there are gravestones in Dalston churchyard which fit with this generalisation.  Perhaps hard times in the late 1800′s led to people selecting smaller grave memorials but these are not simple stones, they are just as detailed and well carved as their larger counterparts.

There are about 30 to 40 grave stones in the older part of the church yard, surrounded by mature yew trees, with a handful of others scattered in between the larger memorials.

A broken grindstone takes a young life.

Inscriptions on these miniature stones are well worn and some are falling over but one or two give an insight into the lives of the people they commemorate;

One reads:
“In memory of Robert Baldwin
Who was accidentally killed by the
breaking of a grind-stone at the forge
February 7th 1885 Aged 19 years
Thy will be done”.

St. Michael’s Church

St. Michael’s Church stands in the main square of Dalston village.  Built in 1750 from red sandstone and restored in 1850.

The chancel is said to date from the 13th century and two Bishops of Carlisle are buried here.

Did this man create the miniature gravetones?

One of the other graves we found in Dalston Church yard and marked by a regular size memorial, belongs to John Harkness, a local tombstone cutter who died in 1891.

Perhaps John Harkness was responsible for the miniature gravestones!

We would be interested to hear from anybody who can shed light on the reason for the small grave memorials and indeed, their creator.

Further information

Dalston Church website
Carlisle Records Office

Dunning St Serf’s Church Grave Yard Survey is a record of memorial inscriptions on gravestones in the churchyard.

Carefully cleaning a gravestone

This survey also including wall plaques in the church and inscriptions on the stained glass windows, was compiled by members of the Dunning Parish Historical Society in the summer of 1993.

The first file contains a list of all the surnames which appear on gravestones in St Serf’s churchyard, and the number of the stone(s) on which each appears. The other files contain a description of each stone.

Each stone number is preceded by a letter which denotes in which part of the churchyard the stone lies.

Dunning St. Serf’s grave yard survey

The project to record headstone inscriptions in Cockermouth Cemetery began in the Autumn of 2004.

Gravestones have been recorded for All Saints Church Rooms and church graveyard and Allerdale Council Cemetery.  Records can be searched free of charge online via cemetery or by surname.

All saints graveyard Cockermouth

All the headstone inscriptions in the old part of the Cemetery have now been recorded.

Inscriptions in the remaining part of the Cemetery (over the bridge crossing Tom Rudd Beck) will be added to on an ongoing basis.

These inscriptions will prove a valuable resource for both family and local historians.

To find out more about the project or search the database visit the Cockermouth Tourist Information Centre web pages.

A great website resource called History from Headstones allows you to search the largest collection of online gravestone inscriptions in Northern Ireland.

Take the work out of trailing through graveyards

The History From headstones database contains over 50,000 inscriptions from over 800 graveyards in counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone.

Graveyards are outdoor museums and the most accessible source for studying the local community and its history.

History from Headstones shows you how to find out more about the graveyards of Northern Ireland through case studies, maps and photographs.

You can find out useful background information to aid your ancestral search.

When clicking on the map link to a searched gravestone or graveyard you are given a little table denoting which religion the graveyard belongs to.  This can be invaluable when searching parish records and archives and gives you a small window into the lives of your forebears.

Many gravestones also have interesting stories to tell.

Who was the woman who lived once and was buried twice? Why was a Portuguese sailor hanged in Belfast in 1810? Where are the resting places of the men and women of 1798? What do the strange carvings on some gravestones really mean?

History from Headstones explores the many interesting stories behind gravestones and their inscriptions.

One of the central aims of the website is to highlight the importance of gravestone inscriptions as historical sources that can be used to study the past. With this in mind they have gone through their holdings of gravestone recordings and where possible categorised the inscriptions by theme.

These themes are divided into sub-categories which can then be searched. Short essays draw attention to the more interesting inscriptions within each theme.

Military, Ships and the Sea, Illness, Geographical, Child Mortality, Interesting

Credit is required to gain access to view a full inscription record and costs 4 Credits.

However, members of the Ulster Genealogical and Historical Guild (the membership association of the Ulster Historical Foundation) now have unlimited access to the database of inscriptions via the Member’s Area. For multiple searches or if you are unsure who or which graveyard you are looking for, this may actually be a cheaper option.

Visit the History From Headstones website.

Ulster Genealogical and Historical Guild at www.ancestryireland.com.

The owner of the Carlislehistory.co.uk website has now completed recording the names on the gravestones in Carlisle’s Richardson Street cemetery, the city’s main burial place since 1855.

A surname index has been produced to the 24,000 names recorded.
 Very useful for those tracing relatives or carrying out family history research.

The site operates a very basic A – Z index and searching the index is free of charge.

More detailed information, such as full gravestone transcription, map and set of pictures are available for a small charge.

Further information

Carlisle City Council Bereavement Services Information about Carlisle Cemetery and details of other municipal cemeteries. Details of opening hours and other services available

Historical searches can be carried out upon request, usually free of charge.