The Recorders of Uttlesford History

 

The Saffron Walden Branch of the Essex Society for Family History carry out a great deal of very useful transcribing work for family historians. One such project was the transcription of the gravestone records for Saffron Walden Cemetery which dates back to the 1850s. At one time the only way to find out if your ancestor was buried there, was to ring Uttlesford District Council, who administered the cemetery, to ask for a manual search through their record books - this was very time consuming and therefore the FHS project to transcribe it proved to be a great boon. Uttlesford District Council IT department ensured that the FHS transcript was put online on the council website but when control of the cemetery passed to Saffron Walden Town Council, this meant the end of online access to this invaluable resource.

The Recorders of Uttlesford History and the Essex Society for Family History are therefore very pleased to ensure that this material is available to family historians by putting it back online through the RUH website. Using this, it should be easy for researchers to find any person buried in the cemetery even though the gravestones may no longer be in situ. This facility will then also be available to users of the ESFH website who have a direct link to the RUH website - and of course it is available to family historians all over the world, and to those who come to Saffron Walden to pay homage to the graves of their ancestors.

The RUH therefore acknowledges with gratitude the sterling work of the Saffron Walden Branch of the ESFH for making the data available at no cost. In order to find the location of a particular grave, the RUH is also including a plan diagram of the cemetery with the code letters of the various sections within which individual graves would be found.

Before the cemetery was opened, burials took place in the parish church or Nonconformist graveyards. Burial plans and lists of these can be found at the ERO Archive Access office in Saffron Walden Library. For enquiries please contact: ero.saffronwalden@essex.gov.uk or ring 01799 523178.The office is manned on Tuesdays and Fridays 9-1 and 2-5 and on Saturday mornings.