ST NICHOLAS CHURCH, NORTON MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS INTRODUCTION Background The Norton Community Archaeology Group (NCAG) is a professionally led group of (mainly) local residents, formed to research and document the archaeology and history of the parish of Norton. The village is now part of Letchworth Garden City, but was mentioned in the Domesday Book and in earlier records. Given the wealth of historical documents available, NCAG'a approach is:- -Where possible, to focus upon identifying, collating and updating the results of past research; and so -To devote its resources primarily to widening the knowledge of the village. In the case of St Nicholas church, a comprehensive census, “Memorial Inscriptions - Norton & Bygrave”, was compiled by Garry Neesam and published in 1991 by the Hertfordshire Family & Population History Society - now the Hertfordshire Family History Society (HFHS). The churchyard had been closed to completely new graves by that date, so there are relatively few changes to record. Accordingly, under the above approach, NCAG has produced what is effectively an updated version of the HFHS document. We gratefully acknowledge the kind permission of the HFHS to use and publish their material in this way. Scope & Method As with the HFHS document, this first edition of the NCAG survey concentrates upon the personal details:- -Not attempting a full, literal transcription including additional text such as “Rest in Peace”. -Following the precedent of simple terminology (“died”, “also”, etc.) rather than the various ways in which these meanings are expressed on the memorials. Because the legibility of the inscriptions varies widely, this document does not attempt to show the extent to which this new survey has been able to verify HFHS data, where no change has resulted. Nor has NCAG directly reviewed the Gerish records, which are reproduced herein as cited in the HFHS document. This edition simply reflects a direct examination of the memorials now present. It is hoped that a future edition may resolve some uncertainties, eg. by reference to other historical documents. Additions & Amendments All entries in this document are direct transcripts of the HFHS document unless annotated with one or more of the following codes:- [N]New entry - an additional memorial, or name(s) added to a previously recorded memorial. [A]Includes amendment(s) to the HFHS document, eg. where the cleaning or replacing of stones has improved legibility. Locations The HFHS plan (page 17 of their booklet) is reproduced here, unchanged. List entries for additional stones have been assigned the plot numbers of adjacent memorials on this plan, with a capital letter suffix - eg. 3A is a new memorial beside HFHS plot 3. March 2008 Norton Community Archaeology Group contd
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