Very old shorthand

[DRH123]

Ancestry have a set of images which they describe as the register 1683-1795 of the non-conformist burial ground at Broadmead in Bristol. It's actually only a partial transcript with a fraction of the entries in the original  but interspersed with lines of what I assume are some sort of shorthand. Presumably written after 1795, perhaps not long after. Can anyone identify it?

I've attached a portion with a rich sample. If you have access to Ancestry the images are at https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61689/images/engl0082d_30251-bd-rs-4_m_00004

Thanks
David

[Daisypetal]

Hi,


I'm sorry I can't help with the shorthand but I can show you this thread which might help,

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=526983.0

Very interesting and I hope, very helpful 


Regards,
Daisy

[familydar]

I wonder if it's a way of identifying the location and possibly size of the plots.  The line that seems to belong to the 4th May entry seems to suggest the grave was 14 yards and 2 feet from ....

Jane :-)

[DRH123]

I should have looked more closely at the original register (images are on FindMyPast). It seems that the shorthand sections are copies of comments that were included there (in ordinary writing). Mostly they are indeed just the locations of the graves. Some, like the entry for Jos. Whittuck, with some extra information.

I've attached a few entries corresponding to ones in the earlier attachment. (They come from different pages in the original, the transcript has fewer than one in 10 of the original entries.)

I suspect that the transcript was made in around 1840, when the non-conformists were obliged to send all their registers to the government. It is quite understandable that they might have made copies to keep, but I don't know why they would want such an incomplete copy. Also understandable that someone faced with copying a lot of data, perhaps with not much time, should use shorthand for the less important parts.