The following is an article from the July 1976 Cricklade Historical
Society Bulletin (Vol. II, No. 1) and is reproduced here by kind
permission of Cricklade Historical Society.
ST. MARY'S CHURCHYARD
It is calculated that in this churchyard there must
be have been between three and four thousand burials. The burials from
1605 to 1840, transcribed and indexed in the Museum, total about 900.
The transcripts from tombstones here given amount only to about 70!
Three reasons contribute to this difference. First, gravestones did not
become common until after the middle of the eighteenth century. Second,
a large proportion of existing stones have become illegible. Third, it
was common all over the country during the restorations in the last
century for stones to be taken up, reversed and used as paving.
In our transcription of the registers is a list of
persons buried in the church whether a M.I. remains or not.
The Curator would be grateful if the curious should
find further decipherable stones and give her the transcriptions. The
plan may help.
An early epitaph reads:-
Underneath this tomb, alas lies twain
Who lived in one, and so shall rise again.
No name or date, but before 1692. (Bulletin I, pp. 1-4).
