Picture Postcard Parade: The Church, Singleton

This is another before and after post of sorts. The first image is a postcard of the church at Singleton, Sussex. The postcard was unused, but probably dates from 1910-20.

The image below is not from the same position, but it does illustrate what happened to many of the headstones that were pictured on the postcard.

When I visited the church earlier this year I discovered that most of the older headstones had been re-located and were now lined up along one side of the churchyard. I don’t know when this clearance took place, and there are now more modern burials (and headstones) in their place.

St Andrew’s Church, Nuthurst, Sussex

Here are a few photos of St Andrew’s Church, Nuthurst, Sussex. I took these on my visit last week, when I passed through the parish on my way to Horsham.

I have previously posted a postcard of Nuthurst Church and as I commented at the time, not a lot has changed, there are of course fewer headstones and fewer trees now in front of it now.

Burials are still taking place in the churchyard, to the west of the church. I found the view of the western end of the church was quite striking, but I am not quite sure why.

The interior of the church was equally striking, I certainly wasn’t expecting to find such a highly decorated interior, although of course my photo doesn’t really do it justice.

I couldn’t leave without getting a photo of the font, my 3x great-grandfather Thomas GASSON was baptised here in May 1831, along with four more of his siblings in subsequent years. According to the church guide and history it is made of Purbeck marble and may date back to Saxon times.

My genealogy to-do list for the week ahead (week 10)

There seems to have been little time for genealogy last week. My job hunting continues with little success, although last week was more positive than previous weeks.

I don’t seem to have got much family history done, I seem to have been on a genealogical wind-down after Who Do You Think You Are? Live last weekend. I have made some significant discoveries this week, in Henfield churchyard and the West Sussex Record Office.

Gloucestershire records have occupied much of my time, and in particular my search for Winchcombe parish registers. Pub history didn’t get a look-in this week, and my take a back seat for a while.

This week I have a lot of information to get sorted out, not only what I gathered at the West Sussex Record Office, but also some family documents and photos uncovered by my father that need scanning.

• Continue working through my digital files updating Family Historian and sorting out folders and standardising my filenames.
• Scan the ‘new’ family documents and photos.
• Sort through the information gathered at West Sussex Record Office and integrate it into my database.
• Review my GEERING research in light of the latest information from the West Sussex Record Office.
• I haven’t ordered my monthly ration of birth, marriage and death certificates yet. I need to decide who gets my money this month.
• I would like to create a catalogue of my old maps collection, I love maps, both old and new, and often find old copies available cheaply, but have trouble remembering which ones I already have, so I need a list.

My genealogy to-do list for the week ahead (week 2)

It has been a funny sort of week, although I like most of the people in England have been stuck at home because of the snow I haven’t actually done a lot of genealogy. My main priority is finding another job, that in itself is becoming a full time job, however things are progressing slowly on that front.

• I made a start on sorting out my photos, but I really need to dedicate an evening just going through all my folders and getting all the photos in the right places.
• I also made a start on getting one of my photos identified, with the help of the Victorian Wars Forum. I still have more work to do on that, but have made good progress so far. Expect to see some blog posts about that in the coming week.
• I now have a folder full of 1911 census images that need sorting out. Re-naming the files and entering all the data on Family Historian.
• I ordered the will and death certificate for Mercy STEADMAN last week, along with another marriage certificate and a birth certificate. The certificates should hopefully arrive this week and need processing, but it will probably be a couple of weeks before the copy of the will arrives.
• I didn’t get any to-do lists done, but from going through my family tree it does look like I have reached the limit of what I can actually do from home (back beyond the census and civil registration) for most of my ancestors, so I really do need to get some archive visits planned soon.
• I want to start writing the story of Luther TROWER, Henrietta KING and Charles BRINTON. It is an interesting story which I alluded to briefly before. I think I will try and get it researched and written completely before I actually publish it on this blog. I want to start on that story as soon as possible, so I will try and put together an outline this week.

My genealogy to-do list for the week ahead (week 1)

A new year, full of new challenges and new opportunities. More stories to be uncovered and exciting discoveries to be made. And not forgetting the chance to do some filing and planning, where would we be without organisation?

• Make a start on organising my family photos. Set up new folders under each surname for the photos that have been identified.
• Work out the best way of naming and tagging the photos, both identified and unidentified.
• Pick an unidentified photo and start trying to identify it.
• Order the will and death certificate for Mercy STEADMAN (née TROWER) and go over the existing information I have for her.
• Start putting together some basic to-do lists for some archive visits hopefully in the near future, based on the work I have already done for my Christmas Tree Project last year.