translation needed please<completed>

[sandie]

Although my husband's grandparents came from S.Wales they both died and were buried here in London - they moved when his grandfather was black listed after the general strike - anyway, I have located his grandmother's head stone, but the inscription is in Welsh.  I can make sense of some of it, but it would be nice to know what the complete inscription is, so I would be very grateful if someone could transcribe it into English for me.

I have written it as it appears on the head stone:

           ER COF AM
           MAM ANWYL
           SARAH H. RICHARDS
           CONTRALTO
           O.S. WALES
           NES DOD I
           BEN FY DAITH
           Feb 10 1953
           OID 71
           YR OCIR YAMA
           I'R BEDD
           MAI CARIAD
           BITH YN MARW

Regards
Sandie

[Llwyd]

Hi there,

It goes something like this;

In memory of a dear mother,Sarah Richards,contralto,of South(?)Wales.


It then goes on to say;
At or getting near journeys end,Feb 10th 1953,aged 71 years.

The top sentence of the next line "yr ocir...etc...does not really make sense.It is possibly meant to read "yr ochr........",which is lying alongside,next to,near to,but what or who "y ama/yama is/was"........That doesn't make sense to me.

The lines mean she has been buried near to or alongside someone (yama/y ama......?)who was and to whom she was a cariad...darling etc etc.....forever,in death.

Some of the spelling is a bit off......yr ocir and bith.....they should read yr ochr and byth and oid should be oed.

I hope this is alright as my Welsh is far from perfect.I thought I'd have a go as you hadn't received a reply yet.

Iechyd da.....as they say. 

[sandie]

Llwyd

Thank you very much for having a go.
I'm sure I copied it all down properly, but will check next time I'm at the cemetery, mind you it could be as she is buried in London that the stone mason/relatives weren't really up on Welsh and got a few things wrong.

Thanks again, at least now the English family members will be able to appreciate what the inscriptions says.

Regards
Sandie

[D ap D]

           YR OCIR YAMA
           I'R BEDD
           MAI CARIAD
           BITH YN MARW

Hi,

Llwyd got most of it, as well as recgnising the spelling mistakes. I don't need to repeat that bit.

Yr ocir yama I would say should be "yr ochr yma", meaning "this side"
i'r bedd - to the grave / of the grave
mai cariad bith (byth) yn marw - love never dies

D

[sandie]

D

Thank you for finishing off the translation.

I've shown my husband the completed inscription.  He says his grandfather was buried with his grandmother, but later.  I wonder whether it was him who wrote the inscription for the mason, knowing he would be buried with her one day.   

Thanks again.

Regards
Sandie