CWGC Grave.

[Polchraine]

Polchraine..

Thanks for that I did find that information about Albert from another source.. I still don't know exactly where he died . In fact I'm going round in circles I will have to get down to St Lawrence (Salisbury) and see if I can locate him in the church yard.

Jenks

Circles ... I know them too well ... When I get the chance to do any family history research I will find a small thread at point A, which goes to B, to C, to D, to E and then suddenly back to A with no way to break out!

I wonder if it is worth you getting a copy of his death certificate ... if you are that interested. It may show place of death and should show the cause.

[Jenks]

A little bit of an update. There is a Parish Council meeting tomorrow night. I have spoken with a couple of members of the council and they are all for what I propose for the grave of L/Cpl. Walter Herbert Smith . The chairman of the council has indicated that he is in favour of the council helping with the costs. So it all depends on the reaction of the Parochial Parish Council.(still waiting to hear of the outcome of their meeting sometime this month)

With regard to discovering more about the brother of Lancelot David Hiller... Albert Edward I'm still not a lot wiser about him. Taking advantage of yesterdays beautiful weather my wife and I went down to visit the Churchyard at Stratford-Sub-Castle yesterday to see if we could locate him. We looked at every grave... No sign of Edward Albert. This morning I rang and spoke the the incumbent clergyman. He has requested That I send him the details that I have and he will pass them onto his recorder of graves to see if he can help.

St. Lawrence Chuch. Stratford-sub-Castle.






Commonwealth War Graves and cross of Rememberence.




Blue plaque on the garden wall of a house just outside of the churchyard..



Little memorial on the grave of Lancelot Davids grave in Barton Stacey churchyard I had to clean it a little to read it. I'm guessing that Lott was an affectionate family name for Lancelot.




A better picture of the information regarding Albert Edward on Lancelot's headstone.













Jenks

[Jenks]

Further update.. I spoke with the Chairman of the Parish council today. He told me that the Parish council had written to the CWGC To see if they had any objections to my plans. (they the councillors, are all in favour) Still haven't heard from the Parochial Parish Council. Perhaps a phone call from me, to them tomorrow, to see what they think might be a good idea.


Jenks

[Jockyboy]

Please count me in if you need any contribution....thank you for your time and effort....Angus

[Jenks]

Angus..

Thank you. I think its about time I gave an update on the goings on. Well the Parish council wrote to the CWGC without making clear what I wanted to do. The response was that they, the Commission inspect the headstone of Walter Herbert Smith every two years,and if necessary they clean the stone with a biocide. they are perfectly happy with the condition of the grave of WHS. That really pi$$ed me off. would they allow a war grave in Flanders or the Somme to be in that condition.....I think not! I practically had to beg /drag the vicar to the Grave site to show him and explain what I wanted to do. his response was he had no say in the churchyard it was the responsibility of the dioceses. And he was of the opinion that they would not allow anything done to the grave as it was under the care of the CWGC. So with or without permission I am going to clean up the ground around the grave and try and grow some grass over it. The problem being it is under the shade of a tree. I am looking to find a hardy grass seed that will grow in shade and requires little watering. The better news is that the vicar has given me permission to tidy up the grave of David Lancelot Hiller. I am currently looking at the best materials to use to clean up the masonry, it appears to be a very soft sandstone so I have to be very careful. One of the pieces of the masonry surround is broken caused by a tree root. anyway I plan to cut the damaging section of root out, reset the surround. then clean out and infill the surround masonry with a membrane that will let water through but keep weeds out and fill with stone chippings and of course clean all the masonry. The cost should be minimal. I'm hoping that the grave will be looking tidy come next remembrance day. The only real problem is that there is no clean running water in the churchyard which means I'm going to carry it in to water the grass seed and to clean up the headstone. the surrounding masonry I can take home to clean up.


Jenks

[Jenks]

Problems, Problems, why is life so difficult? Do we have any arboriculturists as members? The root that I mentioned in my last post, that is responsible for breaking the masonry siding to the grave, upon investigation turned out to be quite a substantial root. I am concerned that severing it might cause serious problems for the tree. Is my concern justified? I wondered if a solution might be to cut a notch half way through it and notched the masonry in a similar manner. Would this I wonder cause the tree harm? Any opinions gratefully welcomed.

I have started to clean up the masonry surround and corners using just water and a scrubbing brush. My aim is to clean the stone but not to try and make it look new. Here are the two corner stones. One cleaned and one untouched. On the cleaned stone the name of the Masonry firm is visible. Long gone, but I do remember their premises in Andover.

The Tree....



The Root




The damage..





Cornerstones...






Jenks

[Jenks]

I forgot to mention that I cleared away the tree debris from the grave of William Herbert Smith and I think it looks a little better for it. I think a few barrow loads of top soil before I seed it will be benificial.






Jenks

[Jenks]

Slowly, slowly getting there..









Jenks

[Jenks]

Surround and corners concreted in. Oh so nearly there. Weed proof membrane and slate chippings is all thats left..




Jenks

[whoowhoop]

Jenks, that's a fine job you're doing there.