Completed,thanks.X-Ray eyes needed please,Gravestone almost illegible.

[Barbara348]

Hi all,

Can anyone read any more on my Gt Grandparent's Gravestone than I can please.

!).   My Gt Grandad's name was  James Howell  - I can just make that out, I think!

 He was born in 1844 and I can just make out -  44 on the right of the stone.

He died on 29 Oct 1913 - can't see that at all.

2). My Gt Grandmother Alice Howell died on 27 Oct 1918, can't see anything about her.

Can anyone help, I think the old sandstone will crumble altogether soon.

Maybe some clever person out there can pick out more detail than I can.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Barbara.

[Barbara348]

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone could have a peep at this please and tell me what (if anything) you can make out.

Barbara.

[Phodgetts]

It is nigh impossible to see anything. If you are able to revisit the site, take some water with you and wet the stone. I did that on a stone, though not in quite such a bad state, and I was able to make out the writing that way. Perhaps some others will offer better advice.

Philip

[Barbara348]

Hi Phillip,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm going to see if I can get to visit at some stage soon and I'll have a go with the water.

I think I'm hoping for a miracle really, the stone is crumbling away but I might as well give it one last go.

Cheers

Barbara.

[PrueM]

Hi Barbara,
I can just make out another "LL" further down the stone on the right hand side, and there's an "A" at the beginning of that same line, which could be for Alice or Also...

Can you post a larger picture?  Might be easier to see 

Cheers

Prue

[Benn2509]

Hi, a suggestion I've heard in the past, and I'm not sure how 'acceptable' this is, but if you cover the writing in shaving foam, or a yoghurt, then wash over it, the foam will stay in the letters making them 'visible'.   
Benn.

[Emjaybee]

not much help

[Phodgetts]

One other suggestion is to go into the church itself and see if they have a file with the graves and headstone inscriptions. My dad and I did a trip to Northumberland earlier this year and places like Norham and Carham had such files which made grave finding really easy and of course if the inscriptions had been recorded before serious deterioration then it was there to see in the file.

As you can imagine this stone would have given us serious problems, but it was recorded in full within the church file. The actual stone itself had been damaged beyond safe use and removed with only the mounting plinth left.

Philip

[Barbara348]

Hi Phillip,

I managed to go on a visit to the cemetery today and I took some water with me and dabbed it gently all over the Gravestone.

The center is crumbling away so I was unable to exert too much pressure so I don't think I could see any more detail than before..

Also, I'm afraid that the cemetery does not hold any such well kept records as you were lucky enough to find so there's no chance of ever finding out what the original inscription actually said.

I took a new photo to attach to this message but have been unable to shrink the size (611 KB)to below 500 so I'm not able to attach it unfortunately.

I tried to attach it earlier but it was rejected as the image is too big.
I tried to reduce it through Irfanview but couldn't get it to work - it wouldn't let me 'save as' in the reduced size for some reason..

I think this may be a lost cause !!

Barbara.