Superbr
It will be a job for the winter months, because that is when the vegetation is at its lowest, just right now in June/July it is at its highest, just look at your own gardens. This is a church graveyard that was closed for burials in 1920; it is not a municipal cemetery, where records of whom was buried in a grave was kept meticulously in a large book. I understand there are some grave digger records, but they only start around 1898, and they are by no means complete or very detailed-it may say "child aged 6, and cost of burial", which is hardly much use for family history purposes. You are right, those records at the Archives or in Leeds Central Library, local studies section, on fiche, will tell you that your relative was buried in Rothwell church yard and when, and by whom the service was taken. That may be another clue, the vicar, because depending on whom the vicar was will determine where the burial is in the churchyard. The other thing to bear in mind is which of your relatives buried in the grave was buried first. If your, John Spink was buried in September qtr of 1870, was he the first of the family to be buried there. If the first one in the grave, bearing in mind that most of the graves are 8 feet deep, was say in 1850, then that also determine where the grave is-it wont be with the ones buried in 1870. There also various sections in the graveyard given over to people from the areas round about-just because the church is Holy Trinity Rothwell, the persons buried there came from Hunslet, Middleton, Woodlesford, Rothwell Haigh, not just from Rothwell. It would depend when a church was built in the area with a graveyard.
I enclose a photo of the graveyard to show you height of the vegetation and the problem facing anyone looking for a grave without a map or plan. You can see that some of the graves have sunk as the ground has shifted underneath. I understand that Leeds Council now are responsible for the graveyard, but would think that it would come at the end of a long list. They have just sprayed it with weed killer-lets hope that in 14 days the undergrowth will be thinner.
I will continue to look for John Spink, but a few more clues would be helpful. Many of the graves are unmarked, or the stone hidden under the ground etc.
Tom
