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Memorial inscriptions: almost 1 million records added

Findmypast.com, in partnership with the Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS), has added nearly a million new memorial inscriptions to its Parish Records Collection. These records are the fruits of decades of transcription work by family historians nationwide.

Volunteers from different societies have visited graveyards and cemeteries in England and Wales, pulling back weeds, uncovering buried headstones and patiently deciphering weathered inscriptions.

In some cases the transcription is the only record that is left, as the headstone has completely weathered away or been destroyed.

The newly added records cover the following counties:

• Dorset
• Essex
• Glamorgan
• Lincolnshire
• Cheshire
• Northumberland
• Somerset
• Warwickshire
• Wiltshire

It is an ongoing project and there is still lots more work to do. If you would like to get involved, then contact your local family history society.

The records contain inscriptions from the 1600s to the twentieth century and will appear as part of the results when you search for a burial within the Parish Records Collection.

Some contain basic information such as parish and date of death, whereas others may contain much more information, depending on what was written on the headstone, and how much has survived the ravages of time.

Pricing for inscriptions for those with PayAsYouGo credits is either six, eight or 12 credits, depending on the amount of detail they contain.