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You are here: Home > Projects > Monumental Inscriptions > NAOMI Guide

Monumental Inscriptions Project
NATIONAL ARCHIVE OF MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS (NAOMI)

NAOMI Guidance Notes

Contributions to this database are being sought from any individual or organisation and in Norfolk the work will be co-ordinated by Norfolk Family History Society. We will not turn away offers to update existing surveys but the emphasis will be on encouraging volunteers where no surveys are currently known to exist.

To reduce the possibility of duplication of effort anyone participating is requested to contact the Monumental Inscription co-ordinator, Mary Mitchell via the Society.

Questions and accounts of your experiences are welcome and will help to develop the guidance notes.

Starting a Survey

Has the site already been surveyed and if so when? Ask Norfolk Family History Society Monumental Inscriptions co-ordinator or consult the list on our web site. This will indicate the date of any surveys we are aware of and surveys to be completed. The list may not be absolutely up to date. Whatever you find on the web site, always ask the church officials whether they are aware of an earlier survey in case one exists which has not been submitted to the Record Office or is incomplete.

Permission to record inscriptions in a cemetery should be sought from the clerk to the parish council.

Permission to survey a church and/or churchyard should be sought from the incumbent although initial contact with the church warden to discover whether there are any useful plans of the premises could be very worthwhile.

These preliminaries can take some time and can be undertaken in Spring before suitable weather for recording arrives.

Things to bear in mind:

1. You are responsible for your own physical safety. Do not assume that every headstone is stable they can fall over if pushed. Do you need safety clothing for protection of head and feet? Be careful with tools. Be careful how you lift a stone and better still arrange for it to be lifted for you.
2. You are going to prepare a survey of all the memorials. Not only in the churchyard but inside the church. They can take many forms, brasses and brass plates, stained glass windows, plaques, floor stones (known as ledgers) sometimes hidden by furniture etc. Include the war memorial in the parish which may be away from the church and may not be the only war memorial in the village. Are there further memorials or grave stones in the parish eg cemetery or other church denominations. Include them in your survey if you can. Always ask permission before you start and never cause any damage. Lichen should be removed only from the inscription and not elsewhere as it is of interest to botanists and may for all you know be a rare species.
3. Check your own work or ask a friend to check it before you prepare and distribute any copies

In most cemeteries and some churchyards the graves will be laid out in rows. If you begin by explaining where the first row is and how you numbered the rows you should be able to develop a numbering system which translates into a four digit reference for NAOMI***
eg Row 3 Grave 4 = 0304
or in a triangular plot Row 4 Grave 6 = T406
or ED19 is the 19th grave site in row D in area E

You can draw a plan but it would only need to show the position and number of each row and from which end the graves are numbered. Some churchyards are not suitable for this method see the section on plans.

You can choose

1. to give a number to every grave site,
2. only allocate a number to graves which have an inscription, or
3. some other system.

Be consistent within any particular survey and include a note explaining what you have done.

Using a Spreadsheet

1. The simplest "survey" would consist of a list of the first names and surnames found in the church/churchyard, perhaps entered onto a spreadsheet and sorted into alphabetical order. This would hardly be worth doing, as it only tells you which entries in the burial register are also evidenced by gravestones but even so how would you know which John Brown was which?
2. By giving each grave an identifying number and including this in your index you at least allow researchers to visit John Brown graves until they find the one they are looking for. This is not much help to a researcher who cannot visit the churchyard
3. Include the age and date of death in your spreadsheet and the researcher can go straight to the individual grave and (with a copy of your plan and an explanation of your numbering system) may be able to work out which neighbouring graves are those of John Browns relatives. Not a great deal of help but possibly the best you can do using a spreadsheet

Using a Word Processor

A word processor is much more capable of producing a useful record. You can record the complete wording of every inscription. Retain the computer file and you can continue to amend and add to it.
Eg Row 3 Grave 5:
03/05 In loving memory of John the beloved husband of Jane Brown who died 16 April 1918 aged 53 years "We cannot Lord thy purpose see, but all is well thats done by thee" also Jane Brown died 18 March 1938 aged 72 years.

1. Add some information about what kind of memorial this is, using abbreviations in [ ] such as HS = headstone, K = kerb, F = flat horizontal marker, U = urn, OB= shaped like an open book etc. [Strictly speaking a plain cross is a Latin cross but is called a Calvary Cross when it stands on three steps. The inscription will usually be found on the steps and it would simplify recording to refer to these as "Cross" and other kinds of cross as "Celtic" or "Decorated". Using this method it is convenient to omit "HS" when a headstone stands alone and supply a description for everything else. These notes can be useful when looking for a particular grave later.
2. Of course you can go to the other extreme and not only indicate that a grave is marked by a headstone but show what kind of headstone Plain (square), Norman (curved top) or Gothic (pointed top) with even more detail added to show variations from the basic types.
3. The NAOMI*** database will also accommodate details of the kind of material of which the memorial is made and its height, width and thickness in millimetres, if this kind of detail interests you.
4. It is certainly helpful to record both the material and the position of the memorials you find inside churches. Eg [stained glass window on north wall of nave]
5. To give some idea of how the inscription appears on the memorial you may care to use the solidus "/" to indicate that a new line is starting. (See example of a "NAOMI" print to see why.) 20th Century inscriptions most commonly begin with the words "In loving memory of" which you should type in full later but which can appear in your handwritten notes as I/LM/O or ILM/O etc. You should try to record all words as they are spelt on the stone Sep, Sept, Septr, -9- or September. However use block capitals only for surnames even if the whole of the original inscription was in block capitals.

By including some of the above suggestions and not others you could now have a record which reads:

03/05 [HS in K] In loving memory of/ John the beloved husband of/ Jane BROWN/ who died 16 April 1918/ aged 53 years/ "We cannot Lord thy purpose see/ but all is well thats done by thee"/ also Jane BROWN/ died 18 March 1938/ aged 72 years

The NAOMI*** database can be used to search for all occurrences of a surname, a first name or any other word or phrase. Running a search for "skull" produced some examples of the skull and cross bones symbol in Norfolk. Obviously these words do not appear as words in an inscription and can only be found because someone thought to mention in their notes that the symbol appeared on particular memorials. In other words make a note of anything unusual.

Drawing a Plan

If you prefer there is guidance on this topic in "Rayments Notes On Recording Monumental Inscriptions" 4th edition revised by Penelope Pattinson (1992) ISBN 1-872094-47-3
But you may be able to manage without:

Recording a Survey without Drawing a Plan

You are going to produce a survey of the church and churchyard in a manner that suits you. Bear three things in mind:

1. Will everyone who looks at your survey understand it? Add any explanatory notes you think necessary
2. If someone needs to update your survey in 20 years time have you anticipated this? Can they modify or extend the numbering system you have used or will they have to start again?
3. Will the numbering system you use transfer to NAOMI ? If it will not, the data on NAOMI will be difficult to relate to your survey or plan. On the NAOMI database each inscription will be identified with a four digit reference. Inscriptions inside the church are usually C001, C002 etc. Inscriptions on the outside wall of the church O001, O002 etc. Inscriptions which were recorded on a previous survey but which have been removed R001, R002 etc.

See also Producing a Plan of a Churchyard

Reading Difficult Inscriptions

Collect empty window cleaner, weed killer or windscreen de-icer containers of the kind which spray liquid (not aerosol). Clean them and fill with water.
Collect empty soft drink bottles to refill your sprayer.
Collect used toothbrushes, nail brushes, scrubbing brushes etc.
Collect scrap paper to write on. Old computer printouts are particularly useful.
You will need something that you can use as a clip board.
Other equipment you can accumulate as and when you find it useful

If an inscription is at all difficult to read, spray it with water, if necessary brush off any soil etc and spray again. As the water dries out the inscription will in most cases become readable.

There are a range of techniques which you may have to use for more difficult cases these are of three kinds

1. Either increase the light or reduce it to improve the contrast between the inscription and the surrounding stone.
   Wait an hour or two the sun will have moved,
   View from a different angle
   Ask someone else to look at it
   Use a torch and/or a mirror
   View the stone under a plastic sack or umbrella
   Use the cardboard insert from a roll of kitchen foil, cut the bottom at an angle so that it fits closely against the stone and view the inscription by looking down the tube [This is know as a "shadowbox"]
   
2. Miscellaneous
   Fill the inscription with soil or colour the stone with wet grass to increase contrast
   Feel the inscription with the tip of your finger
   Write down any letters you can read and try to work out what is missing
   
3. Consult other records:
   
   
   • The burial register [always record both versions if inscription differs from burial register]
   • Consult local historian
   • Neighbouring stones
   • Possibly you cannot read the text but can read the ref eg 2 Kings so you may be able to look it up

If you still cannot read the inscription enter [?] in you records. If you guess for example that the figure is 3 enter [3] or if you cannot read all of the letters in a word show which letters are doubtful:-

[W]yatt or which alternatives may be possible [W/Ul]yatt

What Next

It is practically impossible to produce a correct record at the first attempt and you may also introduce further errors when you type up your own notes.
Type up your notes on a word processor and then compare them with the original memorials noting any corrections where necessary.
Update the file on your word processor and print it out again
Prepare an index using a spreadsheet program. This could appear as follows

Sample Index for
Monumental Inscription Survey

Grave ref	First Name	Other Names	SURNAME	Year died	Age at death
0101	Violet	Eveline	TAYLOR	1918	25
0102	Hammond	Wrate	SUTTON	1917	76
0102	Sarah	Ann	SUTTON	1932	92
0102	Emma		SUTTON	1934	49
0103	Sarah		WATSON	1917	80
0104	Walter	John	HARNWELL	1916	24

Now sort the data first by "Year of death" and then by "Surname" and print out the result. You will now have a list which you can easily compare with the burial index. Arrange an appointment to see the burial index and amend your print to show any discrepancies. These notes can be used later to update your word processor file.

One last look at the original memorials may be necessary and you may feel that you have done all the checking that you can possibly do.

Let the church have a copy of your survey.
Let the Record Office have a copy
Send a copy to Norfolk Family History Society co-ordinator and it will be put on the library shelf for reference after the information has been fed into the NAOMI database.
Keep a copy yourself (Keep a copy on floppy disc to assist amendments and updates if necessary later).  Some also send copies to the Society of Genealogists and local libraries etc

THE NAOMI DATABASE

The National Archive of Memorial Inscriptions - or NAOMI - database was originally developed by The DeMontfort University in Bedford. Currently pilot studies are operating in Norfolk and Northamptonshire. NorfolkFHS will enter Norfolk surveys into our copy of this database. This will soon be passed to the national database It will store information about individuals and the full text of all inscriptions. The data can be analysed to show relative number of deaths for each month of the year, age at death, comparison of male and female, frequency of first names and surnames etc.

It will also search for particular individuals, or individuals of a particular kind. It will list all occurrences of a surname or first name or any other word or phrase in an inscription which appears in a particular parish or group of parishes. The ultimate aim would be to feed in data from the whole country.

Why did we ask you to use the solidus sign "/"? If you do not, the data cannot be input into NAOMI in such a way that it can display the inscription like this:

With special thanks to John Pepperdine for this article. © John Pepperdine & NFHS.

  Page revised: May 2008 © Copyright 2007 Norfolk Family History Society
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