There is a project that has been termed “Google maps for graves” which intends to map and photograph the Church of England’s 19,000 church graveyards, with the aim of recording every grave, headstone and memorial.
Funding for the project is being provided by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund and genealogy websites Family Search and My Heritage. The company Atlantic Geomatics is responsible for mapping all churchyards, which will take around seven years to complete. Work has started in Cumbria and the first digitised churchyards are expected to be online by autumn.
This will create a searchable database for anyone trying to trace a family member’s last resting place. The goal is to also add details of where an individual was baptised and married. It will not, of course, be possible to map a grave that is not marked by a headstone, but it could still be recorded on the system based on a church’s own burial records.
This project will give good online access to records and much more accurate and up-to-date information.
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