Work began in November 2017 to photograph and record the inscriptions on the gravestones and tombs in St Cyr’s churchyard and the monuments inside the church.  As of April 2018, we have completed the southern section and are near to completing the north-eastern section.    It has been thrilling to discover a number of gravestones hidden under the turf, some considerably older than any previously visible.  Where possible we are obtaining background information on the people buried as well as reading the inscriptions.  In the course of the work we have looked at many old documents relating to the church, some going back as far as the seventeenth century

As each section is completed, the spreadsheet and photographs have been forwarded to the Gloucestershire Family History Society and are available to genealogists and local historians.  We have also worked closely with John Pinch, who is producing an updated and corrected Churchyard Plan for display inside the church.

There will be an illustrated talk about the project on 5^th April 2019 (see Programme of Events for details).  Monumental inscriptions can seem rather dull, but we promise you plenty of human interest and local colour.

The History Society staged a well-received exhibition during the Armistice Centenary weekend in 2018, as part of a wider programme of village events.  It was displayed first at the Village Hall and subsequently in St Cyr’s Church. The exhibition commemorated the people named on the Stinchcombe War Memorial or on the roll of honour in the church porch.

A number of people kindly lent us WWI memorabilia, including photographs, letters and interesting artefacts.  We are also grateful to those who shared their information and experience from previous research and an exhibition in 2014.  Last but not least, we thank a kind gentleman in Wickwar who lent us several display boards and subsequently agreed to sell them.  They will be a great asset to the History Society and others.

The displays told the stories of the fallen and some of the survivors, including the two women named on the roll of honour.  They also covered the aftermath of the Great War and looked at how Stinchcombe’s war memorial came into being.  We are currently looking into the best way of making a permanent record of the project available.

The oldest documents belonging to the Stinchcombe United Charities go back to the 17^th Century.  In this project we are photographing all of the documents before they go to the Gloucestershire Archives.   The older ones, which are difficult to read, are being painstakingly transcribed.

Many of the documents mention prominent families from the village’s past and particular fields and buildings around the village. Later this year, we will be giving a talk entitled Charity Begins at Home, drawing on this work and information from other sources.<