Charlton, Dover

[cheshiremaid]

Hello...

We are travelling down to Kent next month on holiday and we are taking time out to go grave hunting for my ancestors in Dover plus sight seeing to see where they lived etc.  As it is my first visit and probably my last and not knowing the area I would like to be well prepared.

I know most of my ancestors are buried at St Mary the Virgin however I have a 2x gt uncle who is buried at Charlton.

The problem I have is that from his obituary it states that he is buried at Charlton Cemetery which I had googled however I have recently found on FindMyPast his burial at Ss Peter and Paul Church, Charlton.

I would really appreciate any help as to where I should look first please.

Regards..

Linda

[panda40]

If you contact Dover Council with all your relatives names and death dates they can give you the actual plot number and cemetery they are buried in. I have used this service many a time and they are very helpful. The email address can be found on their web site.

Charlton cemetery has a map at the entrance and is laid out in a grid format. You use the reference to locate the grave.
St Mary's cemetery is extremely hilly so if you have any mobility issues you need to be awe are of this when grave hunting. I would advise having someone with you when there as both as the cemetery is large and quite isolated.

Good luck
Panda

[lizdb]

And remember - a burial does not mean that there will necessarily be a headstone.

[panda40]

I know this very well most,of my great grand parents are buried at Charlton cemetery. Not a single headstone to be found. One is laid flat where a grave is but it is upside down so I can't read the writing. All the rest never bothered to get a headstone.
The other thing to remember is the condition of the headstones are poor and you may find the grave but unable to read the information and confirm it's your relative.

I will be back in the summer to start working through St Mary's cemetery

Regards panda

[artifis]

Apologies if you already know this but if you're taking photos of gravestones, especially the hard to read, it's useful to take several from straight ahead and from angles, and some with flash at  angles even on a sunlit day; these will often show details of the text that is otherwise hard to see with the naked eye.  It's especially useful to have several photos as with a software package - many printers come with some sort of photo enhancement - you can play around with sharpness, contrast, brightness, colour etc. and this will definitely show detail you'd otherwise miss in a badly eroded or overgrown with lichen gravestone.  It will also save that "I wish I'd taken a photo of that" syndrome at a later date.  It's also useful to take photos in context, i.e. showing the gravestone in its surroundings - I did this with one ancestor only to discover later that another ancestor I didn't know about at the time was buried just a couple of graves away and this was included in the context shot.

[cheshiremaid]

I am so sorry not to have replied earlier unfortunately we lost our internet connection...we are told it was due to a faulty modem....so much for modern technology!

Anyway...I thank you all very much for all your advice it is very much appreciated.

Kindest regards..

Linda