We are delighted to report that the Friends’ application to ChurchCare for a grant towards a survey of the Table Tombs in St. Mary’s churchyard has been successful. ChurchCare have awarded the church £1,900 towards the £9,750 project with The Friends of Lydiard Park funding the remainder of the cost.
In preparation for the survey work which will be undertaken by Sally Strachey Historic Conservation, Friends’ Trustee Michael Gray, with the help of church volunteer Robert Bednarski, has produced a measured survey of the churchyard. This has multiple benefits: we are already using it to index all the graves which will make it much easier for anyone trying to locate a particular grave site in the future. It will also form a base plan for plotting fauna, flora and habitats in the churchyard and an overall care plan for the area. We will keep you posted about opportunities for meeting the conservators when they are on site.
The majority of the Grade II Listed Chest Tombs date from the 18th and early 19th century, marking the burial sites of relatively prosperous members of the parish. Sadly, many have fallen into disrepair over the years in contrast to the St.John family monuments inside the church. Michael Gray explains:
Community interest, particularly in family research and genealogy is at an all-time high and graves provide an important source of information and connection with the past as the Friends’ Lydiard Tregoze Family History Project has demonstrated. The Condition Survey we have commissioned will help the church prioritise the most urgent conservation needs and inform future grant funding applications for repair work.
Of the 28 Table Tombs, nine lie to the east of the church, five of which are dedicated to the King family. The prosperous King family trace their ancestry back to the Medieval period and the Kingshill are of Swindon takes its name from them as does the Swindon Primary School Robert le Kyng. The chest tomb memorial for Francis King and his wife Ann has vestiges of blue colouring as do other gravestones indicating what a spectacular and to our eyes an unfamiliar site the churchyard must have been some two hundred years ago.