RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Kent => Topic started by: KPM on Friday 28 January 11 17:50 GMT (UK)
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Hi
I'm on a quest to locate some headstones and have learned that my great x4 grandmother Sophia Dorbon was buried in 1867 in the churchyard at St Margarets in Plumstead.
I googled St Margarets and learned that the church was demolished in 1974 and a new church was built - St Mark and St Margaret.
My question is, does the old churchyard still exist?
Many thanks in advance
Anne-Marie
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I have just spotted your post. St Margaret's did not have a churchyard. As St Margaret's became the new parish church, the vicar of St Margaret's became responsible for the churchyard at St Nicholas (the old parish church, which became a district church) and the burial registers were kept by him. Marriages and baptisms, though, were conducted in both churches. It is quite likely that the funeral service was at St Margarets, but the burial was either at St Nicholas or at Woolwich Old Cemetery (just to be confusing, Greenwich Cemetery is in Eltham, Woolwich Old and New Cemeteries are in Plumstead and Plumstead Cemetery is in Abbey Wood).
The churchyard at St Nicholas was hit by a V2 rocket during the War and any surviving stones were moved to the edge, and the churchyard turned into a small park. Recently, the walls have been removed altogether to form a large green.
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Hi
Thank you for your reply.
From the sounds of it, it is unlikely that any gravestone for Sophia is still standing. However, I think I now need to establish exactly which churchyard Sophia was buried in.
My original information I found in Ancestry and on looking at the record again, it says she was buried in the Parish of Plumstead, St Margarets.
I think my next step will be to contact Woolwich old cemetery to find out if they have a record of her burial in the hope that she was buried there and not St Nicholas!
Thank you again for your help.
Anne-Marie
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Because St Margaret's was the new Parish church of Plumstead, wherever she was buried in Plumstead would have been in the Parish of St Margaret's, if that makes sense. I have only been able to find the section of Old Woolwich Cemetery where my relatives were buried - the stones were long gone.
If I get a chance, I'll pop along to the cemetery.
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I am in the same quandry.
My 4X GreatGrandfather was most likely buried at Woolwich Old or St. Nicholas Cemeteries per the information in this discussion.
BUT, I have one other bit of information. Four years before his death he was an inmate at the Woolwich Union Workhouse listed as a blind fisherman. I don't know if he was ever discharged.
Assuming he remained in the Workhouse until his death, where would he most likely have been buried?
Thanks!
Dan
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There are some burial records for Plumstead and Woolwich on https://www.deceasedonline.com/
You can do a free search and then pay to see the full entry
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Hi - I'm in the same situation as the original poster. I have a record of a burial in the St Margaret, Plumstead burial records on Ancestry. I understand from the posts above that there wasn't a burial ground at St Margaret's and that burials were either at St Nicholas' church or Woolwich Cemetery.
Deceased online states that it has all records for Woolwich cemetery from when it opened in 1856 until 2020. I have searched for my relative and they are not listed in Woolwich cemetery.
I am assuming therefore that the burial was likely to have taken place at St Nicholas. Can anyone add any information to that already contained in this thread that could help to confirm this assumption? Also be grateful if anyone can confirm that graves have now been cleared and most are in St Nicholas gardens in front of the church?
Many thanks for any assistance.