Cooling M.I.s &
other information with
Index of names
at end
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Monumental Inscriptions of St
James Church, Cooling -
recorded by D. E. Williams 2011
Introduction
St. James at Cooling is a much
visited church, now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It's
associations with Charles Dickens, who lived at nearby Higham, have made it
familiar to people all over the world. The churchyard is believed to be the
setting of the opening chapter of Great Expectations. Although it is more
likely that the location in the novel was a composite, I think Hoo St. Werburgh
churchyard is more authentic. The Comport children's Body Stones are identified
by many as those of Pip's siblings. Small Body Stones are not uncommon, there
are also six to Comport children in High Halstow churchyard. Because of their
near status as a "national treasure", I felt rather inhibited from
handling them too much and subsequently I have relied on other sources, not all
accurate, to identify them all.
There are not many monuments of great age in the churchyard, the
population has probably always been small, many of the medieval parishioners
would have been retainers from the castle. The area was considered unhealthy due
to the proximity of the marshes and occurrences of ague. The oldest monuments in
the churchyard are those to the Prebbles, and they did not live here, but at
Cobham and Cliffe.
As at St. Mary Hoo, the village did not expand, as it's neighbour
Cliffe did. Although most of the housing is modern, the churchyard and it's
setting remains a green oasis of quiet timelessness.
I have laid out the lines of the inscriptions exactly as on the
originals, where parts are missing or I have used material from the Registers
and other sources, I have used brackets, thus [ ]
Section A
interior of church. Inscriptions are arranged
alphabetically.
Section B
churchyard pre-1930 graves only. Inscriptions are arranged
alphabetically.
Index of Names - from
gravestones only
Locate the name you are interested in and
note the letters/numbers following. Using the links below, jump to the
Section containing the letter/number. Click on Edit at the top
left of your screen, and from the drop down menu, click on Find on
this page and type in the name. The cursor will jump straight to the
name, highlighting it. Be sure to click on Next at the top, in
case the name occurs again. Happy ancestor hunting.
Be sure to use the same method to search for any other names
that you are interested in not listed below, that might be in the wills,
census, directory information.
Sections
A 1 to 14 B 15
to 55
Names
Index
ACOME 3, 37
ASSHETON 4
BAKER 26
BALLS 15, 16, 17
BATCHELOR 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
BELLAMY 23
BROOKE 1
CHILD 24
COMPORT 2, 25
COUSINS 27
CROUCHER 28
EDWARDS 25
FAULKNER 29
FILMER 30, 31
FORBES 32
FULLER 33
|
GATES 42
GATTON 25, 26, 27
GRANT 34
HINDS 35
HODSHON 36
LEAVER 3, 4, 37, 38
LUPO 5
LYNCH 14
MARSH 21
MONK 6
MUGGERIDGE 7
MURTON 8, 9, 39, 40
OVERRRIGHT 42
|
PAINE 5
PICKERING 10
PREBBLE 43, 44, 45
SMITH 46-49
SOLOMON 51
SPARKS 11, 12
SPEARMAN 50
TERRY 15, 52, 53
THOMPSON 27
THURSTON 11
WILLOUGHBY 13
WODYEARE 14
WOOD 54, 55 |
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