During 2004 and 2005 Takeley Local History Society transcribed the Memorial Inscriptions from the grave markers in Holy Trinity Churchyard. The transcriptions are available as an Excel spreadsheet which complements the funeral records already available on the HOLY TRINITY CHURCH WEBSITE.

A common identification numbering system is used in both the funeral records and the inscription records and so it is possible to find a burial and then quickly look to see if a grave marker an inscription exist.

A guide to the churchyard has been written with plans to help anyone looking for a particular grave. This can be downloaded here.

DOWNLOAD THE HOLY TRINITY TAKELEY CHURCHYARD GUIDE

A brief note on what may be found in these records:
In the Takeley Funeral Database, 1686 is the earliest burial recorded and 1863 is the earliest burial with the location of the grave recorded. Tthe earliest gravestone we have found is dated 1757. Many locations of early burials are now known as a result of the transcription project.

Within the limitations of the data as described above, the procedure for anyone looking for a particular grave should be as follows:

i) download the Takeley Funeral Database (in Excel) from the HOLY TRINITY CHURCH WEBSITE .

ii) Search the Takeley Funeral Database for the name you are looking for. If you find the name and there is a Plot and Plot Number note this with the Reference Number. If you find the name but no plot reference then this is probably an early burial and there may be a memorial but it is unlikely. If you do not find the name then this could be due to a burial before 1686, incomplete records or the burial may have taken place elsewhere (Takeley Chapel for instance).

iii) If you have a Plot and Plot number then DOWNLOAD THE TAKELEY MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS DATABASE.

iv) Search the reference number column of the Memorial Inscriptions database for the reference number found in the Funerals Database. If there isn't a corresponding entry then there is no inscription. You can also search the surname column which may yield the grave you are after.

v) Before visiting the Churchyard, DOWNLOAD THE HOLY TRINITY TAKELEY CHURCHYARD GUIDE as this contains the plans of the churchyard which will help you find either the memorial or the position of the unmarked grave.

The database has been created in Microsoft Excel. There are 10 columns as follows:

A) the cross reference number to the Funerals Database on Holy Trinity Church Website.

B) The Plot. The plots are ROWS (1 to 16), PATH, YEWS, WEST, NORTH, CHAPEL, SOUTH EAST and EAST

C) The Plot Number within the Plot.

D) The surname of the person the memorial is to.

E) The Inscription. Some note of where the inscription lies on the memorial may be included. The end of each line of text is marked with / . A horizontal line on the memorial is marked as / -------- / . Illegible text is marked in square brackets thus [illegible] .

F) a brief description of the type of memorial and sometimes mention of its condition.

G) The direction the inscription faces.

H) The name of the surveyor.

I) The date the inscription was surveyed

J) Whether this is a War Grave or War Memorial. We are finding many more War Memorials than seem to have been listed before.

The database is to the best of our knowledge complete but has not been rigorously checked and inscriptions are sometimes difficult to read.

Webmasters may link to this site but PLEASE do not copy the database to any other site or include the information in any other database as updates and corrections would then be out of our control.