iwiKiwi

A Kiwi in search of her ancestral tribes

Mary Jane’s grave ~ (Not so) Wordless Wednesday

Last week I posted a couple of photos of Brockley Cemetery in Lewisham. This is where my great great grandmother, Mary Jane (Clarke) Freeth/Wright/Carroll, was buried in 1932.  I’d found her entry in the Greenwich Union death register and discovered she had been buried “by friends” in Brockley Cemetery1.  In May 2012 I contacted Lewisham Council and a lovely staff member there sent me Mary Jane’s burial details, as well as a map marked with the location of her grave. Eureka!

My mother was visiting from New Zealand at the time, and together we set off to find Mary Jane’s grave. This is what we were confronted with in the Roman Catholic section of the cemetery:

Brockley Cemetery, Lewisham, London - June 2012

Brockley Cemetery, Lewisham, London – June 2012

You can see how overgrown the area was – it was almost impossible to read any of the gravestones, even where the inscriptions were still legible.  After an hour, we gave up the search.

My next step is to contact the Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, in the hope that they may be able to pinpoint the grave location more accurately. And to buy some heavy-duty gardening tools.

Wordless Wednesday is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

  1. Board of Guardians, Workhouse Woolwich Road (Greenwich Union, London, England), “Register of Deaths”, Mary Carroll death, 12 Feb 1932; digital images; Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths & Burials 1813-1980 (http://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 23 Jun 2011).

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Brockley Cemetery, Lewisham, England ~ Wordless Wednesday

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A close family in life, and in death ~ Tombstone Tuesday

2 Comments

  1. Mike Guilfoyle

    Dear IwiKiwi,

    I noticed that you were seeking to locate grave of your gggrandmother. Appreciate that this section of Brockley Cemetery is more overgrown and difficult to negotiate. With the wintry weather about to subside? it might be worth persisting with your search. We have experienced similar challenges in locating historic graves even with references. I am sure that you will find your loved ones grave in due course. Regards Mike Guilfoyle-Vice-Chair Foblc

    • Maggie

      Thanks for your comments, Mike! Probably now is a good time to go searching, before all the spring growth.

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