Dear Ray,
Glad to hear you are on the mend. I have attended the Brynmawr Hospice
of Valleys drop in clinic at the rugby club on Monday afternoons. What a
great set of folk they are, patients, therapists and nurses, etc. I go
to Tredegar on a Wednesday morning now. Everyone is so positive and
chatty!
The Brynmawr publication 'Brynmawr Municipal Cemetery burials 1854-1932'
is exactly that i.e. 1854-1932 burials. I have only taken the
publication to 1932, so far, as it covers the 70 year rule for these
sort of publications. Census is 100 year of course.
The publication was based on a members research (Gwent Family History
Society) about 10 years ago and bears an 'uncanny' reference to the
Council burial records;) Up to 1932 there are over 12,000 entries.
I wish I had the original sexton's book which would show these grizzly
recordings, but would not be able to publish these details as it would
embarrass the families, of course. I do have some burial registers which
have been given to me a while ago from local chapels, purchase of
graves, etc. lots of personal details, such as addresses and little
asides such as 'widow is a pauper' , ' this family lived in Clydach for
many years', ' daughter of William Needham', etc.
Some cemeteries, municipal ones, lost records as they were placed in
sextons offices at the cemetery. In the case of Dukestown, a fire at the
office destroyed the original burial registers that were held by the
sexton and probably the notes that they had. BG Council have the records
but it does raise the question of how much information is missing?
'Fudge' at Brynmawr cemetery is very helpful as most sextons at BG
cemeteries are, but any enquires that the public have they have to
contact Diane Brooks at the council as the sextons records are in grave
order, I am lead to believe. At Ebbw Vale the sexton has original burial
records and if you give him the exact, if possible, he will cross
reference the books and give you the details of all who are buried
there. Very efficient! Blaina Muni seem to work on the same principle.
Our Brynmawr publication was originally in grave order, so we have had
to put it all into a database, originally in MS Works and now the final
version is in name order, which is of course what researchers need.
Best regards
Barrie Jones, Gwent
In message Renesray(a)aol.com writes:-
Hi Listers,
Many thanks to the many enquiries I've had re health. I am feeling good and
looking forward to the last session of chemotherapy.
I have been reading with interest the enquiries made about the Hapgood
family. I took note of the Hapgood burials that Barrie has listed in Brynmawr
Cemetry and I am looking forward to having one of the CD's once they are
published.
The list of "Hapgood" burials which I have on file at this Cemetry is more
than Barrie has mentioned. I compiled my list several years ago from the old
'Burial register' which was kept
in the ground floor secure room at Brynmawr Library. I noted that sometimes
the deaths had comments written in by the sexton. "Unknown lady found dead by
the White House in the Clydach Valley"
"Drowned when ice cracked under him whilst skating on Heathecote Pond"
Does anyone know where that old ledger might be. I realise it may be "Data
Protected"
but surely a treasured heirloom to the Town Museum. I am puzzled because of
the differences in my records to the present ones.. Cheers Ray Hapgood.