Author: Richard

 

It has been an emotional rollercoaster for me personally, in researching the tragic stories of some of those who are buried in St David’s Cemetery Carmarthen and who are fortunate enough to have a headstone to tell the tale. For over 16 years, from 1841 until 1856 all the “inmates” for example from the Carmarthen Workhouse were buried in St David’s Cemetery – until the Town Cemetery opened, and even then many were continued to be buried there. Obviously coming from the poorest backgrounds and with poor health also, were given the most basic of funerals with no grave marker to speak of and also all those who died in the Cholera epidemic of the 1840’s which wiped out entire families in a matter of days.
Statistically there are nearly 6,500 burials in the “old” part of the cemetery that occurred between 1841 and 2002 when it closed. Out of these only 1,453 have named memorials, and 362 that have grave markers with no names. This leaves some 4,500 burials with no grave markers whatsoever – in other words “no known grave” The situation is made worse of course because of the loss of the “Burial plan” which would have recorded all the locations of all those buried in specific graves, though it is believed that during the cholera epidemic and for burials of those in the workhouse there were burial “plots” which were in effect multi burials in the same grave. Also it is believed that burials of persons who were of the Catholic faith also took place in St David’s until the opening of their own church in 1852.
My own great grandfather, Thomas David Thomas (pictured in the photograph) is one of those who have no known grave or grave marker. He died of Tuberculosis aged 38 in 1921. He was a gifted signwriter and famously painted the “Morris Top Hat” sign on the shop in Lammas Street when it first opened. His two infant sons, both named John Shamby Thomas are buried with him -aged 9 months, and 2 years and three months respectively.

Also, on looking through the burial registers one cannot fail to feel great sadness for the many infants – some of only a few days old who have the words “not baptized” inserted next to their name. It is my intention therefore to close what I regard as an injustice to those who are buried at St David’s and have no memorial to their name – all 4,500 of them by erecting a suitable memorial cross, not of stone or marble but of Corten Steel….It will feature a memorial cross with it’s centre hollowed out so that when you stand in front of it you will be able to look through it into the distance of the cemetery – effectively creating a type of “window” into the past. The attached diagram has been prepared by my sister in law Alison Goodridge (Roberts Wife) and I must offer her my sincerest thanks for making such a good drawing. Whilst it is not exactly to scale you can see the basic design principal. It will be located next to the present rose bed at the rear of the church with an additional rose bed added on the other side of it. No burials are in this location as some of the original foundations of the original church are underneath.

The inscription and wording has yet to be discussed. Its height will in total be about 6 ft and will be secured to a stone plinth made from some of the salvaged stones currently in the cemetery. At least then flowers can be laid at a memorial that commemorates each and every member of a family buried there with no grave marker whatever their status, age, or profession and be a fitting tribute. An application therefore for FACULTY PERMISSION from the Church in Wales is currently underway, and hopefully in the next few months approval will be given to proceed with this important memorial. The 3rd February 2021 next year is the 180th anniversary of the cemeteries consecration, and it is proposed that this date be the one at which the memorial should be unveiled/consecrated by the Bishop of St David’s at a ceremony involving VIP guests, Friends of the Thomas & Elizabeth Mayhook Charity and others. If you would like more information on the Faculty Application please get in touch using the contact page of this website .

Many thanks

Richard J Goodridge MBE
(Chairman of the Thomas & Elizabeth Mayhook Charity)

On the 24th January, the Thomas & Elizabeth Mayhook Charity received a grant of £2,500 from the Garfield Weston Foundation to enable the charity to complete the five year restoration programme of the cemetery. Richard Goodridge – Chairman of the charity said

” My trustees are delighted and honoured to receive this grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation, which will enable us to achieve our objective of completing the restoration of the cemetery by restoring the soil levels, allowing the mowing and strimming of the whole cemetery much easier in the future. Also, there are a number of headstones that require securing and the removal of a small number of old stone bases that have littered the cemetery will also be removed. Re-seeding of the cemetery will be the last job to be done . Finally, after five years of extremely hard work we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am confident of reaching our objective thanks to the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation, and the Pilgrim Trust and individuals, all of whom have contributed to a total of over £15,000 to make this possible”

 

Johnstown Primary School made a donation of £60.00 to the Thomas & Elizabeth Mayhook Charity on the 15th January from the profits received from the sale of Poppy bookmarks on the run up to Remembrance Sunday last November.  In October last year the Chairman took two groups of children from the school on a guided tour of the cemetery to visit the seven Great War graves and afterwards for refreshments at Picton Barracks.

“It was the children’s way of thanking the charity for what we are doing in keeping the memory of those servicemen alive” said Richard Goodridge who received the cheque from Emeritus Professor Tony Curtis D.Litt, FRSL  & his wife Margaret prior to their quarterly trustees meeting. Richard also went on to say, “The Thomas & Elizabeth Mayhook Charity is very grateful to Johnstown Primary School and it’s pupils for thinking of us in making this donation and we are very pleased to have had the opportunity to show the pupils the last resting place of these brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice over one hundred years ago.”

The last 48 hours saw the involvement of 20 plus volunteers in total descend on St David’s Cemetery, bringing along with them three mini diggers, one dumper truck, one mini dumper truck, two huge skips, and a whole host of other  implements. The purpose of which was to finally rid the cemetery of many stone bases – of no architectural value whatsoever, that scattered to 10,000 square metre area.

This will in turn allow much better access for visitors and will make the mowing and strimming of the cemetery much easier in the long term. Also a considerable amount of effort was put into the erecting of several marble and stone headstones that had fallen face down in the mud over 50 years ago and were uncovered over the last few months. In the coming weeks I will be adding some further stories about this weekend to the Memorial Restoration section of this website for you to see for yourself the tremendous work that has been done over this weekend. There is a tremendous satisfaction in finding and turning over these long forgotten memorials to reveal the names of those buried underneath and after careful photographic recording, these will now be added to the database in due course.

The charity owes a great debt of gratitude to  Mr John Trott who thought up the idea of asking all his friends from the “Mackworth Club” – who are a group of young Freemasons from West Wales  to come along and support the charity. Richard Holmes, one of John’s friends and local businessman, brought a huge amount of machinery  on the weekend including mini diggers, and skips, together with other friends who also came along with their own mini diggers including Rob Richardson, and also Rob Holland of RP Hire Johnstown who lent us the dumper truck and tracked barrow. Without this machinery it would have been impossible to have achieved so much.

On Saturday the 11th January the weather was atrocious with strong winds and heavy rain nearly all day, but this did not stop the efforts of all those involved who gave their all and stuck to the task for the whole day, only stopping for a short break. Thanks must also go to Neil of Williams Fish and Chip Shop in Lammas Street who provided 14 packs of sausage and chips to share out and was much appreciated by all.

Sunday was a much better day weather wise – even sunny at times, and the new workforce equally gave their all during the course of the morning in clearing a lot of stones from the cemetery, the ivy off the walls and again to re-erecting two memorials that had been lying face down for decades. It was unbelievable to see how much effort everyone concerned put in over this weekend and my Trustees are eternally grateful for this huge effort of community spirit. Apart from “restoration and repair” of course the charity has had to consider the health and safety of any visitors to the cemetery, young and old, and as a result has had to make safe several of the Victorian box tombs that had become unsafe due to collapse or damage by reducing their height to ground level thereby keeping the inscriptions intact and visible. As a result the cemetery is now a much safer and tidier place in which to visit. The Charity is grateful to the Chancellor of the Diocese, the Archdeacon, and to the Diocesan Officials for the granting of a Faculty in order to carry out this important work, which has been done to exacting standards.

Thanks to everyone involved. It was a brilliant effort. Also Robert Goodridge and Chris Dzioba – two of the Charity Trustees also attended on the two days and appreciation goes to them also for their efforts.

Richard Goodridge (Chairman)

Ann Williams was buried in St David’s Cemetery on DECEMBER 25TH 1842 aged 115 years old. How do we know this ? A careful examination of the burial register provides the answer.

If correct this would make Ann one of the World’s Oldest human beings ever recorded, being born in 1727, the year King George I died. Little is known of her at the moment and in time perhaps we shall find out more about this remarkable character who lived close to the banks of the River Towy. Her last resting place is not marked but is likely to be in the area first used for burials near the gate at the north end of the cemetery.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our supporters, volunteers and “Friends” of the Thomas & Elizabeth Mayhook Charity a very happy Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year. The Trustees have a lot of work to do in the next twelve months, in particular to continue the restoration of the uneven soil levels of the cemetery and the removal of the very large old stone bases that scatter the cemetery. These were left in situ in 1977 when the memorials themselves were removed to the perimeter wall. Once these works are completed we will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and St David’s Cemetery will once again become a place of pride and dignity in which our descendants can rest in peace.

The Trustees are still awaiting the decision on a further grant application in order to complete the above works and this should be known early in the New Year. In the meantime, the Trustees will continue to plan ahead whatever happens. Do keep “logging on” to the website for further updates and latest news. Merry Christmas to you all.

Richard J Goodridge MBE.JP.

As Remembrance weekend approaches and we reflect on the futility of war and the lives lost in  that terrible conflict, photographs of all six CWGC memorials of the  Great War in St David’s Cemetery appear under the drop down menu of “What’s in a name” together with details of each individual.

“At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them”

Johnstown Primary School Carmarthen made history on the 16th October when they visited St David’s Cemetery to lay poppy crosses on each of the six WW1 Graves.

Not since 1918 – one hundred and one years previously had a primary school visited the graves. In all 58 pupils attended and were met at the cemetery by the Chairman of the Trustees of the Thomas & Elizabeth Mayhook Charity Mr Richard Goodridge MBE who gave them a guided tour of the six graves and explained the tragic circumstances as to why each of them became casualties.

At the conclusion of the visit the pupils recited the words at the grave of Brighty Thomas Lewis, Welch Regiment “They shall not grow old” without notes which was a fitting tribute to those brave soldiers.

It has indeed been a busy year in keeping the grass cut as short as possible. The weather has of course not helped over the last few weeks and with only one ordinary garden mower and one strimmer we have had our work cut out. To give you an example it takes on average four and a half hours without a break (except to refuel) to cut all the grassed areas accessible in the cemetery and this together with an additional two hours of strimming takes it’s toll physically. However, in carrying out this work ourselves the Trustees have saved the charity a considerable amount of money in having to pay contractors. In the new year the Finance Sub committee will be looking to prioritise our financial needs for the forthcoming year and to this end we will be looking at purchasing an additional mower and possibly a strimmer so that we can then invite volunteers along to help in carrying out this work. Eventually we hope to be able to aquire a “ride on mower” as well  which will save an awful lot of time and will be more economical let alone much easier ! We also have a large area of the cemetery grounds still to restore,  and to consider the importation of soil to level off uneven areas.

Memorial restoration will however now become the charities main objective over the winter months and the list of memorials requiring attention is quite a long one but there’s the challenge. One headstone that has been laying face down for over 50 years covered over with earth has only recently been uncovered and will be restored to it’s rightful position in the coming weeks. THOMAS DAVIES  from Lammas Street, his wife and two young children (aged 5 and 7 ) will now once again be  remembered and the Trustees look forward to completing this task.

On Wednesday 4th September the trustees met for their quarterly meeting at Park Lodge, Morfa Lane, Carmarthen. Such meetings are held usually every three months and serve to ensure the smooth running of the charity, which also gives everyone the opportunity to discuss anything from memorial repair to finance and anything else that is of concern. On this occasion Dr Huw Michael was unable to attend. Before the meeting commenced we met at the cemetery where Mr Jeffrey Moreau our website designer and photographer met us to take some photographs for this article and we are grateful to him in allowing us to publish these two photographs.

It is the trustees intention at some point in the future to place on the website a map of the cemetery giving the exact location of individual burials which will allow researchers to pinpoint exactly the location of any particular individual, despite there being no headstone in situ. This is because in 1977 a survey was carried out before the removal of many of the headstones to the boundary wall which mapped out in some detail each of the memorials location. Whilst the documentation is not perfect or indeed complete it nevertheless provides us with important details which to the family historian are priceless. More details on this project will follow in due course. What is important perhaps to note is that many of the memorials give a lot more information than you may think including the death of a loved one in a foreign country such as Connecticut, the Red Sea, Australia, New York etc. mostly in the second half of the nineteenth century. Such information is invaluable to researchers and we also hope, with further funding to be able to have all the memorials photographed and appear on this website. So much to do and so little time !