Fortunately a great many of the M.I's exposed to the elements in churchyards were carefully read and recorded some time ago. In recent years, however, some of the inscriptions have vanished fast thanks to the acid rain amongst several reasons.
In the 1930's some of our Australian relatives came to Ickleton, Cambs and had very little trouble reading the family gravestones as far back as the 18th Century. I myself first went there in the late 1970's and was amazed how difficult the words had become to read only 40 years on. Today I would certainly not be able to read what I had been able to read 30 years ago.
Sometimes a quirk of nature means that moss grows along the words and letters of the inscription and its meaning and message is still perfectly preserved...
Sometimes I've found myself crouching over an ancestral stone, carefully peeling the obscuring ivy away, nervously looking over my shoulder in case someone's going to come up and accuse me of vandalism to their churchyard...
Keith
