Churchyard
Although St Mary's Churchyard was closed for burials in 1882, the memorial inscriptions still contain much information of use to historians and genealogists. The Welwyn Archaeological Society (WAS) performed a full survey in the 1980s and the data from that and other sources has now been transcribed for display on St Mary's web pages. We are grateful to the WAS for allowing their data to be used.
In ChurchThe memorials in St. Mary's Church were surveyed by the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS) in 2001.
Thanks are due to Jim Holder-Vale and Jessie Lunt, who recorded the inscriptions and to Doris Jones, who translated them.
Notes
The "WAS No." refers to the number allotted by the Welwyn Archaeological Society during their survey of the memorials in the churchyard, which was done in the 1980s under the leadership of Tony and Merle Rook.
Each line refers to one person only. Where more than one person is remembered on a memorial they share the same WAS number.
The "/" indicates a new line on the inscription.
The memorials within the church were transcribed as part of the Record of Church Furnishings compiled 1997- 1999 by the Welwyn Garden Group of NADFAS (National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies). Thanks are due to Jim Holder-Vale and Jessie Lunt, who recorded the inscriptions and to Doris Jones, who translated them. These memorials have, for convenience, been given numbers in the WAS column starting with "400" but are not, of course, Archaeological Society numbers.
Nearly all the names in both surveys also appear in the 1906 record compiled by W. Frampton Andrews. Where the information given agrees with the WAS or NADFAS record I have inserted "Ö" in the final column were too any discrepancies are noted. In some cases it is impossible to read the 1906 record, in which case this also is noted. (The original transcriptions used for the 1906 record were probably done by Mr. A. Mayes of Welwyn, who "has, we believe, made a copy of all the inscriptions in the church and churchyard." [Editor’s note at end of 1906 record]. Mr. Mayes certainly added the notes on the Twydells to the 1906 list when that family’s memorials were discovered during the restoration of 1911).
About 25% of the records in this list come only from the 1906 survey. It is assumed that the majority of these were churchyard memorials which had disappeared or become illegible by the time of the WAS survey. Where the 1906 survey is the only source, the information is limited to name, age and date of death and, occasionally, relationship details. For convenience this series begins with the number "500" in the WAS column.
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