The photographs below, again show the before ( sometimes during) and after, that the work the Thomas and Elizabeth Mayhook Charity have been doing during the last twelve months in restoring the dignity, pride and honour of those families whose memorials had the misfortune to have been damaged by the ravages of time, decay and neglect and in many cases ending up face down in the soil and mud, not seeing the light of day for over 50 years….here then are a few more photographs of the “before” and “after” and whilst the detail of the families themselves have not been included, they show how, with great sensitivity these grave markers are finally being restored thanks to the support of the “Friends” of the charity through their donations and also to the volunteers who have been helping the charity in it’s never ending determination to restore them. In particular, members of the “Mackworth Club” – a group of young Freemasons from Carmarthenshire have been particularly helpful in bringing machinery and manpower to our aid and without their support much of the work recently undertaken (in January) would not have been possible, so a BIG thank you to all of them. Hopefully when the world returns to some form of normality they will return once again.
It is also a fact of life however that some memorials were in a perilous state of decay and becoming a danger to the public and visitors to the cemetery. Indeed one box tomb that was in a partial state of collapse, totally collapsed and could have caused serious injury to anyone nearby. It was precisely because of these unsafe memorials that a “Faculty” was applied for previously in order to make safe several of the box tombs and other memorials and once permission had been received from the Church in Wales we then began the process of reducing the height of these unsafe memorials whilst keeping in situ any inscriptions so as to identify those whose are buried there, in keeping with the guidance offered by the Church in Wales….Here then are some of those photographs.
The five photographs below show the damage to the collapsed box tomb of the MORRIS family of the NAGGS HEAD PUB, the oldest recorded public house in Carmarthen and the work in making the area safe once again for visitors and in tidying it up as best as possible whilst still retaining the named inscriptions on the side panels that have been placed together for visitors to read.
The following photographs are of a seriously damaged slate headstone which has been partially restored. Removing the residue of the resin compound will return this memorial to some dignified appearance.
The headstone after initial repair
The following photographs show the restoration of a massive white marble headstone buried in the ground for decades.
The following photographs of the MORGANS family memorial completely buried in the soil, but now it’s white marble glinting in the sunlight once again.
The white marble headstone below of the JOHN family, before, during and after restoration in January of this year
