St Margaret's Churchyard Memorial Inscriptions

The survey of Memorial Inscriptions in St Margaret's Churchyard commenced in 2008 by Richard Standing with the assistance of Neil Rogers-Davis. To date, the Ancient Churchyard or Old Litten (i.e. the area that comprised the churchyard as it was prior to its expansion c1837) has been surveyed in depth plus the later 1841, 1867 and 1930 churchyard extensions. Full burials have been recorded up to 1969 in Areas 10/1-10/4 (with the addition of a few later ones) but, to date, there hs been no recording of stones where just ashes have been buried in any Area.
Churchyard Key Plan

The memorials in the Ancient Churchyard are largely 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, but they do contain burials of a later date, and indeed some in the 20th century. 18th & 19th century headstones and tombs have been checked against church burial register entries whenever possible. The earliest headstone has been identified as 1705. As Mr Standing explains in his excellent general article on the churchyard, until the 18th century permanent stone memorials were virtually unheard of in parish churchyards

The size and complexity of the churchard necessitates it being split into a number of survey Areas. These are numbered 1 to 10 (with some sub-divisions) as can be seen in the key plan on the right.

The Areas of the churchyard are broken down as follows:

The Ancient Churchyard - Areas 1, 2, 3/1, 3/2, 3/3, 4, 5/1, and 6.
1841 (approx) Extension - Areas 3/4 and 5/2.
1867 Extension - Areas 7, 8/1, 8/2, 8/3, 9/1, 9/2, and 9/3.
1930 (approx) Extension - Areas 10/1, 10/2, 10/3, and 10/4.

The Areas surveyed to date comprise approx 600 memorial inscriptions comprising nearly 1000 names. With something in excess of 1000 burials plots likely to be recorded for the whole churchyard, it is impractical to include all of these on a single page. They are therefore broken down into individual pages - a page for each area.

An Index of people currently included in the churchyard memorial inscriptions survey can be accessed by clicking here.

Before viewing inscriptions, read the Notes at the bottom of this page for explanations, further information and guidance.

To read about some interesting burials or people commemorated on memorials in the churchyard, click here.

We would like to acknowledge the assistance St Margaret's Church has given in the survey of memorials found under the Vestry area and in the North Aisle during their re-ordering project.

The following Areas (with descriptions) are currently available for viewing/searching (click on Area required):

AREA 1
Church Hall site - north of Church (a number of memorials that have been removed, due to the building of the modern church hall, have been included)

AREA 2
East of Church Hall to Lychgate - including North Aisle and Vestry areas of church with headstones from old churchyard in 1852.

AREA 3/1
South of Church Porch - small area

AREA 3/2
South of Tower - the SE corner of old yard

AREA 3/3
West of Tower with path to north - old yard only

AREA 3/4
The western half of the 1841 churchyard extension with the old yard to its north and the greenway to its east.

AREA 4
East of Chancel with paths from lychgate around

AREA 5/1
South of Lychgate - large area east side of old yard

AREA 5/2
The eastern half of the 1841 churchyard extension with the old yard to its north and the greenway to its west.

AREA 6
North of Tower - small area with paths around

AREA 7
A small section west of the church hall, north of the path

AREA 8/1
The northern section of the western half of the churchyard extension opened in 1867 - with north-south grass path to its east.

AREA 8/2
The central section of the western half of the churchyard extension opened in 1867 - with north-south grass path to its east.

AREA 8/3
The southern section of the western half of the churchyard extension opened in 1867 - with north-south grass path to its east.

AREA 9/1
The northerly section of the 1867 churchyard extension - west of old churchyard with north-south grass path to its west

AREA 9/2
The central section of the eastern half of the churchyard extension opened in 1867 - with north-south grass path to its west.

AREA 9/3
The southerly section of the eastern half of the churchyard extension opened in 1867.

AREA 10/1
The far westerly section of the most modern part of the churchyard opened circa 1930.

AREA 10/2
The central westerly section of the most modern part of the churchyard opened circa 1930, with north-south grass path to its east.

AREA 10/3
The central easterly section of the most modern part of the churchyard opened circa 1930, with north-south grass path to its west.

AREA 10/4
The far easterly section of the most modern part of the churchyard opened circa 1930.

 

General Notes relating to the the transcription of memorial inscriptions within these pages:

  1. The information given on these webpages does not include grave location, photos, surviving verses, and family of the deceased but, for burials before 1900, it does include in most cases a reference to the entry in the Angmering burial registers. If you wish to determine whether any additional information is available, please contact the editor of this website (see Contacts page).  

  2. Many of these memorials are eroded and/or in shaded conditions making them difficult (and sometimes impossible) to read in parts.

  3. Items in brackets (....) are particularly difficult to read.  The church register entry usually has the correct word or date but, in some instances, the memorial will have a different reading, therefore some contradictory wordings are left as originally read.

  4. bgl =  below ground level

  5. All inscriptions and register references should be checked against the gravestone/tomb and original documents where they exist.

  6. A copy or CD of the full survey, with photographs, is to be deposited at West Sussex Record Office in due course.

  7. None of the St Margaret's memorial inscriptions on these webpages may be published in any form (printed, electronic, on disk, etc) without the prior written agreement of the Owner/Editor of Angmering Village Life.
Page last revised: 04 October 2019