An important aspect of the Cornwall Inscriptions Project is the building up of a photographic archive of the surveyed memorials. As each parish is surveyed digital (sometimes traditional) photographs are taken. Due to the large number of memorials it is not practical to photo every memorial as it is also not possible to have generally more than one view of each memorial. However, the collection is gradually being built up and there are many thousands of images in the archive.

Research is constantly undertaken to trace old photographs, this is of particular importance where the memorial no longer exists or has been damaged.  Photographic evidence has already shown how memorials can be altered over the decades, in one instance a memorial has moved from one end of a churchyard to another !

The photo on the left shows a medieval wall painting. In years past when many were not literate symbolism was important and “memorials” of this type are included in the CIP survey. Many of these will not aid the tracing of ancestors but they will add to an understanding of the times in which they lived. Your medieval ancestor may have been illiterate but if they regularly attended this church then they would gain an understanding of the bible through a form of reading. A few memorials are located in isolated places, if only all of them were situated as in the photo to the right. It should be remembered that it is not just memorials located in burial grounds that are recorded by Cornwall Inscriptions Project. All memorials which record some activity of our ancestors are recorded. A few memorials are kept in excellent condition and are easily transcribed, as is demonstrated in the photo to the left. Many other memorials are in terrible condition. Our objective is the prersaervation of these memorials through a full transcription and photographic archive. We also undertake “desk” research to discover memorials that are no longer extant.  The archive therefore includes memorials that have long been lost.