THE stories behind over 3,000 monuments and memorials in the churchyard of St Thomas Church in Lymington are examined in a new book.
The Friends of St Thomas Church have published The Memorials in St Thomas Church, charting the history of the town centre churchyard.
This 150-page document is the result of four years of work to document and record the 3,000-plus monuments – gravestones and cremated remains plaques which have accumulated in the churchyard since burials began in the mid-1600s.
The project was initiated in 2020 by Nigel Mussett who recruited a team of volunteers to support him in the task. Following Nigel’s untimely death in 2023 the work was completed by a team led by Rosie Ward.
St Thomas’ burials register dates from February 1662 and the oldest graves still existing date from the 1680s. The churchyard originally extended to the south of the building but this area was lost when the road was widened in 1821 and then again in 1953-54 with the creation of the War Memorial and Garden of Remembrance.
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The gravestones from these areas were moved from their original sites and are now to be found either in the courtyard or along the walls of the churchyard.
The churchyard boasts a fine selection of memorial types ranging from the very simple and earliest grave markers, through normal headstones to chest tombs, ledgers and crosses in various forms and the book catalogues these different types.
Chair of Friends of St Thomas Church, Daphne Johnson, said: “One immediately useful feature of the book is the alphabetical list of names linked to the location of individual memorials. There is a steady stream of visitors to St Thomas of people seeking the graves of relatives and this book enables the parish office to direct visitors accordingly.”
Copies of the book are available for purchase at £20 either from the parish office or the Friends of St Thomas Church directly. To find out more visit https://lymingtonchurch.org
