Mitcheldean Congregational Chapel headstones removal (General)
The Forest and Wye Valley Review Dated 21st May 2010 Letters to the editor.
After reading the letter headed,'Mitcheldean memorial'and having ancestry connections with this cemetery i went to investigate what was happening on this sameday, the same day as the anouncement in the paper and i'm very upset with what i have found.Work as already started in this cemetery to remove Headstones and the surrounds of the grave plots.The three graves in which i am most interested in have been removed and two are standing against against the wall the other we could not locate.The graves were of ISAAC PHELPS and THOMAS and MARY COOKE and THOMAS TEAGUE Burial 1861 ,in my opinion,these gravestones were in a stable condition and should not of been touched.I am not fully aware of the legalities of what it being done, but do think it is morally wrong.I have been informed by members of the church that it is being done on health and safety grounds.Three months ago on visiting these graves i asked why the three graves were fenced off,' was it to preserve them'the reply i recieved 'no it's so the children from the nursey school don't hurt themselves, when they are playing in the grounds.Anyone concerned about this cemetery needs to voice their opinion most urgently as the digger is already working there.I have read somewhere recently of another case,, in which someone wants to build on a burial ground,but cannot remember quite where,i think it was in the wye valley area,i'm not sure of the outcome.I will try and post a photo on the gravestone sight of the three stones ,i took this photo less than three months ago.
Regards to you all
Derrick
Mitcheldean Congregational Chapel headstones removal
by admin 
, Forest of Dean, Saturday, May 22, 2010, 01:34 (5377 days ago) @ ranger one
Derrick
Here are the links to the previous threads regarding a similar situation at the Ruardean Congregational Chapel.
The Old Chapel, The Square, Ruardean - URGENT ACTION
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=22555
Ruardean Congregational Chapel Memorial Inscriptions
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=25184
If work has already started on the removal of the headstones it appears that nothing you do now is going to prevent that continuing. What needs to be done is for all the headstones to be photographed and transcribed the same as what has happened at the Ruardean Chapel. The Ruardean Chapel headstone images and transcrits will be published on this Web site soon and we would be more than happy to do the same in regards to the Mitcheldean Chapel.
It is a pity that the removal of the headstones has only come to be known at this late stage to members of this forum as otherwise a task force to do the photographing and so on could possibly have been formed.
See what you can do yourself in regards to photographing the headstones and if there any people local to Mitcheldean who are prepared to assist then please let it be known.
If possible please send us a scanned or typed copy of the the letter to the editor that was in the newspaper.
Headstones removal and safety
by slowhands 
, proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Saturday, May 22, 2010, 08:14 (5377 days ago) @ admin
.I have been informed by members of the church that it is being done on health and safety grounds.
This whole subject has been rumbling on for maybe 10 yrs. It seems that various "councils" parish or others interpret their duty to protect the public with differing levels of vigor.
In response the Govt set out revised guidlines last year :-
Although the risk of injury from unstable gravestones is very low, cemetery managers are sometimes uncertain what they need to do to comply with their health and safety responsibilities. There has also been some public concern that memorials have been supported or laid down unnecessarily.
The new guidance has been developed in response to requests for more detailed advice on managing memorial stock.
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/safety-burial-grounds.pdf
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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>
Mitcheldean Memorial letter
by admin , Forest of Dean, Saturday, May 22, 2010, 08:46 (5377 days ago) @ ranger one
Sent to us by May Brace
The Forest and Wye Valley Review Dated 21st May 2010 - Letter to the editor
![[image]](images/uploaded/201005220844514bf78b73d808c.jpg)
Mitcheldean Memorial letter
The main factor for the gross disruption going on in this small cemetery is quoted as being on Health and Safety grounds.
The reason for concern is that this cemetery is being used as a nursery play area and the members do not want the children to hurt themselves while playing around the grave stones.
The last burial in this cemetery being as recent as 1990.
I have a number of photo's of the past (MARCH, 2010) and present state(MAY 2010) of this cemetry,I have tried to email some to David but for some reason they don,t seem to be getting through,due to my lack of computer skills.
I have had a discussion with the church pastor he sympathies over situation,but i fear the work is to far advanced now for anything to be done by anyone.
I am trying to arrange another meeting with the pastor tommorow and doing my best to be diplomatic.
If May Brace could contact me by email I would much appreciate it.
Regards Derrick
Mitcheldean Memorial letter
by admin , Forest of Dean, Sunday, May 23, 2010, 08:39 (5376 days ago) @ ranger one
have tried to email some to David but for some reason they don't seem to be getting through
It could be that your Internet Service Provider has a limit on the size of attachments in an individual e-mail. It is recommended that you send an individual e-mail for each photo with the photo resized to a maximum of 1000 pixels.
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If May Brace could contact me by email I would much appreciate
May Brace has the username of "May"
You can send an e-mail to May using the facilities of this forum.
How to send an e-mail to other members
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/?Help_FAQ:General_FAQ#faq6
Mitcheldean Congregational Chapel headstones removal
by rookancestrybest , United Kingdom, Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 20:55 (5373 days ago) @ ranger one
This is a matter of concern and I support you and anyone else in bringing it to notice. Gravestones are an important record of family history and once removed or destroyed that record is lost forever. I particularly feel that there's a lot to learn from gravestones, not just names, dates of birth but also something about the families if verses and sculpture is included. The idea of using up graveyards for building is also very disturbing particularly as people chose where they wanted to be buried on the understanding that this would be where their remains would stay forever. I recently went to a church in London where some of my non-FOD family was buried only to find that the graves had been transferred to another area so that the land could be used (there's a main road there now). When I went to where they had been moved I found most of the inscriptions had worn away and it was hardly possible to decipher any of them. Inside the church were lots of memorials in good condition but the church had no record of whose memorials they were which I thought was a real oversight on the church's part as many dated back to Georgian times (the church was typically Georgian in design, neo-classical). It would have taken little effort for someone to photograph each one and catalogue them.