Not sure where to post this so hope this is OK here...
I was looking at a gravestone today of an ancestor. The inscription is very decayed but there's a lot still there, just almost unreadable. I was wondering if anyone had tips on how best to read it. I was thinking of things like doing a rubbing but not sure if the engraved text will stand out from the decayed surface. The other thought I had was photographing it with a very acute light source to try and bring out the relief but not sure it would work.
I've attached an example. There's two lines of text at the bottom of the stone which are almost invisible in the photograph but were clearly there on the stone - it was just impossible to read it.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks
Please never, repeat never try to make a rubbing of any tombstone that is one of the best ways to ensure destruction of the surface.
When many stones weather the surface layers detach from the solid core of the stone, rubbing the stone causes the last remaining attachments to fracture causing the face of the stone to either drop away as one rubs or drop away during the next freeze thaw cycle (moisture is absorbed into the void between the face and the core, that freezes and expands, on thawing the stone face falls away (spalls) from the solid core).
To expand slightly on what Anne_P wrote. The Women’s Institute had a project that ran in the 1970s and even into the 1980s (starting before many family history societies existed) to sketch and record graveyards.
They even had a competition in 1981 won by Warmington Women’s Institute (if my memory serves me well).
Many of these surveys were very, very detailed and are worth searching for.
Cheers
Guy
