My 3 x great grandparents George and Elizabeth Tunnicliff are buried in Grave 56 of St Mary’s Cathedral churchyard, New Plymouth (Taranaki, New Zealand). In 2014 John Pickering, graveyard manager of St Mary’s, spearheaded a project to repair all the old gravestones in the churchyard. Desecendants, where known, were contacted and asked to help fund the project. Through an earlier blog post, some money was raised towards the repair of George and Elizabeth’s gravestone, but the majority was funded by donations from local parishioners.
The churchyard is a Category 1 historical site, and as such, only registered memorial masons could carry out the repairs. As you can see, a wonderful job has been done! Heartfelt thanks must go to St Mary’s Cathedral and its generous congregation, and especially John Pickering, for looking after our heritage sites.
-
- George & Elizabeth’s grave, before repairs (Image: John Pickering)
-
- George & Elizabeth Tunnecliff’s grave, repaired (Image: John Pickering, 2015)
The inscription on the headstone reads:
In loving memory of George Tunnecliff died 13 February 1912 aged 80 years also Elizabeth Tunnecliff died 24 February 1916 aged 86 . At rest.
Further reading:
- Tara Shasky, “Taranaki Cathedral graveyard clean up complete”, Taranaki Daily News, www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/68290024/taranaki-cathedral-graveyard-clean-up-complete, 6 May 2015.
Tombstone Tuesday is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.
Jill Ball
What an amazing transformation.
Maggie
Incredible what some TLC will do! I am looking forward to visiting it in person sometime this year.