JenB
1. No, other records don't mention that but the majority of people who helped me assumed that they were buried there if they were mentioned in the Transcripts.
2. Perhaps I should have said they had to inform the church and the civil authorities of the burial on private land so that there was an official record of the burial.
3 Church records were the only way that the burial could be recorded since, as you rightly say, registration was not a requirement until 1837
Meanwhile a child's coffin was buried in a private garden and it was discovered more than a century later. That child had to be someone and the Dixon family lived in the property and had children (one of whom died at exactly that time) so I don't think it is an unreasonable speculation that the child might be from the Dixon family.
This is why Findagrave and others were unable to find the grave in question and why I want to check the actual burial records. If the child is recorded as actually being buried in the graveyard then I will have to start again. If it is not recorded as actually being buried there then my speculation is more than likely correct.
