Due to the success of Black Country Churchyards and numerous requests for photographs from churchyards throughout the Black Country region, this second churchyards website was established in April 2009. This has provided additional webspace and in combination with our Black Country Cemeteries website, there are now over 2000 images of headstones and graves online.
We are also compiling a database in respect of over 10000 photographs we hold of the graves in Churchyards and Cemeteries of the Black Country. As this will be an ongoing project, we are making the current database available now. Please see the 'Database Subscription' page for full details.
This website will continue to be updated so please check back soon. Details of the latest updates will appear below.
We wish to thank everyone who has contacted us about Black Country Churchyards and for all the kind comments. Please keep in touch with us either by using the Email Form or by sending an email to: info@blackcountrychurchyards.co.uk
There are now over 4000Black Country images available for viewing across our six websites which are listed below. The websites have been online for less than 18 months but we have already received over 16000 visits across all websites in this very short period of time. Each of the websites rank highly in Google, either number one or in the top five, including Black Country Cemeteries which only went online on 24 April 2010. Additionally, the two Black Country Churchyards and Cemeteries websites and the two Black Country Images websites have a Page Rank of 1 and Black Country Genealogy & Family History has reached an amazing Page Rank of 3 in less than 18 months.
This website is dedicated to providing a free resource for anyone researching their family history and who may have ancestors who died in the Black Country.
We have visited only a few of the churchyards and cemeteries in the area to date, but already have a wealth of information having undertaken the task of photographing the headstones in order to preserve the inscriptions on them. Not all the stones in a churchyard can be photographed because the inscriptions are illegible. Many of the headstones have been damaged by vandals, many are falling into disrepair due to erosion of the stone through the effects of the weather over the years and many are suffering subsidence caused by tree roots and ground movement. Additionally, headstones which are broken, fall over and become buried and overgrown as some of the photographs show. Unfortunately, stone is not permanent and neither are the inscriptions so the phrase 'etched in stone' is a fallacy as far as monumental inscriptions are concerned.
We also have to take into account the fact that many of our beautiful churches have already been closed and many more face closure. Stones are also removed from a burial ground because the land is being re-developed, or because it makes the churchyard easier to maintain (this is also evident from the photographs on this website).
In addition to this, we understand that many of the grave mounds can be levelled if they are no longer tended, as can the tombstones and kerbstones with inscriptions. However, it is our understanding that a plan of the churchyard should be prepared with the individual graves marked and numbered upon it together with a list giving details of the interments recorded by each memorial.
The three photographs above are an example from a churchyard we visited recently, of the total disregard for our ancestor's resting places. These stones all bear legible inscriptions but they have been removed and discarded amongst a mound of rubble. We will not name the church but are concerned that headstones that are not even 100 years old, are being destroyed. If you look closely at the second photograph, you can see the headstones peering out above the rubble and branches. We have also been informed that when old graves are no longer tended, some churchyards/cemeteries have the headstones buried and the ground re-seeded!
There are an immense number of graves which portray the circumstances which prevailed in the early 19th century, for example. Large families were extremely common in the Black Country and housing conditions were predominantly poor. Cholera had a massive impact on the area in 1832 when hundreds of people died. The worst affected areas were Dudley, Tipton and Brierley Hill. The Dudley Board of Health put out a notice on 1 September 1832 that on the following day, Sunday, no one who had died of Cholera would be allowed to be buried in either of the Burial Grounds of St Thomas's or St Edmund's because they were so full. Those who died from Cholera after that date had to be buried in the churchyard at Netherton.
We aim, with the help of others, to provide a lasting memory of our ancestors for present and future generations. We also hope that someone looking at this website may see a photograph relating to a grave in respect of one of their ancestors which otherwise, they may not have been aware of. To assist with this, we will be providing a brief family history in respect of each headstone in the hope that it may provide a connection with your own family history. We will not, however, provide any information that will identify a living relative because we respect your privacy. Additionally, we do not take photographs of graves that are less than 50 years old unless it has relevance to relatives buried in that grave at an earlier date.
If you have an ancestor buried at one of the churchyards we have visited, please contact us with full details and we will list your request and try to locate the grave for you when we return to that particular churchyard. There will be no charge for this service because our aim is not to make money from this venture but to reunite families with their loved ones. With reference to requests for information from Burial Registers, please see the 'Important Information' page.
This website is very much a work in progress, having been online for only a year. We have a vast amount of photographs and information to assist you with your research - the pages available on this website reflect only a few of the photographs we have for that churchyard. Please bookmark this website for future reference because we are updating regularly. Please note that each photograph added to this website is at a reduced resolution to that of the original because of the necessity to conserve web space. If you would like a copy for your own research, the original image will be sent to you at no charge whatsoever.
N.B. Most of the information in respect of the Commonwealth War Graves is courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is noted accordingly.
News and Update 7 May 2010.
Database Subscription Page. Launch Edition of Database available to view/download. 7 May 2010.
Please note that the research we have carried out in respect of the families relating to each Monumental Inscription, is copyright of Black Country Genealogy and Family History and Black Country Churchyards. This may be used for your own personal family history. No part of our research may be used for any other purpose.
Copyright re Website and Photographs:
The design, layout and content of this website is copyright of www.blackcountrychurchyards.com (unless otherwise stated) and may not be copied in full or part. Please note that the images are copyright protected by either Black Country Churchyards or the owners whose names appear where relevant. Under no circumstances may these images be displayed on another publicly available website. Legal action may be taken if any content from this website appears on another website or in any other form of media without our express permission.
We have visited only a few of the churchyards and cemeteries in the area to date, but already have a wealth of information having undertaken the task of photographing the headstones in order to preserve the inscriptions on them. Not all the stones in a churchyard can be photographed because the inscriptions are illegible. Many of the headstones have been damaged by vandals, many are falling into disrepair due to erosion of the stone through the effects of the weather over the years and many are suffering subsidence caused by tree roots and ground movement. Additionally, headstones which are broken, fall over and become buried and overgrown as some of the photographs show. Unfortunately, stone is not permanent and neither are the inscriptions so the phrase 'etched in stone' is a fallacy as far as monumental inscriptions are concerned.
We also have to take into account the fact that many of our beautiful churches have already been closed and many more face closure. Stones are also removed from a burial ground because the land is being re-developed, or because it makes the churchyard easier to maintain (this is also evident from the photographs on this website).
In addition to this, we understand that many of the grave mounds can be levelled if they are no longer tended, as can the tombstones and kerbstones with inscriptions. However, it is our understanding that a plan of the churchyard should be prepared with the individual graves marked and numbered upon it together with a list giving details of the interments recorded by each memorial.
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