In the last six months the Charity has been very busy in carrying out some major restoration of memorials within the cemetery and as you will see from the photographs of before (some during) and after, the transformation has been outstanding. Not only that, it has revealed hitherto unknown information about a number of long forgotten Carmarthen residents. It is part of the Charities constitution to restore memorials where possible and I hope you will agree that we have achieved that goal which would not have been possible without the Friends of the Charities ongoing financial support. All the work has been undertaken by the Trustees of the Charity themselves saving what would otherwise be a considerable sum of money. Some work is still needed in the restoration of the soil levels around many of the memorials and we are waiting for soil to be delivered to complete them.
I have , for simplicity, arranged the photographs into separate groups.
Councillor J R Davies JP & Family grave. These two graves have been fully restored except for the return of the white marble cross that sits upon the marble memorial (left). The cross has been damaged and the stem is missing. A new section of Italian Carrera Marble has been shipped from Italy, and when it arrives the cross will be erected and the memorial finally complete. All the restoration of all memorials has been undertaken by the Trustees themselves.
Mr John Posthumous Pryse
Thomas & Esther Davies & Family. 8 Quay Street Carmarthen
William Jones – Currier, and family.
Mary Jones & Family.
The memorial below shows just what restoration is all about, and epitomises all the hard work that goes into such restorations – a Phoenix rising from the ashes once again. The memorial is in fact the headstone of William Jones’ wife Mary , as featured in the above set of photographs. The marble crosses now stand alongside each other once again, – reunited at last.
A number of memorials requiring some TLC – before and after.
James & Elizabeth Morgan.
This base of this headstone needed to be reset and levelled before being fixed back into position. The inscription was unreadable, but the use of self raising flour brings out the wording perfectly. Though the inscription was written 100 years ago, what a very poignant and indeed apt epitaph of today given the heartache felt by so many during the last twelve months.
Matthew Henry Barnett & His Sister Catherine Rogers
