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During the 1980s volunteers, many of them from our Society, transcribed the memorial inscriptions in Wiltshire and the information was transferred from paper slips to a database. This database is at our Resource Centre and on the internet, where the records are available on Findmypast - see the Our Records on Findmypast page on this website for links.
Although the 1980 survey forms the bulk of the database, fewer, but still important, entries refer to inscriptions that appeared elsewhere: some in documents held in the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes (such as informal lists made by clergy over the centuries) and some in the Thomas Phillipps's survey of 1822, often with lengthy information.
For the above reasons, the entries should be taken as an indication that at some time and place, some really helpful people did today's researchers a favour and recorded inscriptions. Of course it is possible that they are no longer visible because of weathering or the memorial has been moved or removed. Their potential value remains great, as the recorded locations, dates and relationships can help build our family trees, often adding unexpected information about occupations, bequest or deaths in far-off places.
When transcribed each memorial was allocated a reference number, which would be linked the the inscription for every person on that memorial. One limitation with the FindMyPast facility is that you cannot search on the reference number for other people on the same memorial. Therefore, if you believe that there could be others on a memorial, you can try other people with the same surname and see if they have the same reference number. An alternative is to use our research service via the Contact Us page as on fiche we have an alternative of the database.
