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This Record of the Memorial Inscriptions at the Parish Church of St James the Great, South Leigh, Oxfordshire, was made by Gill Curwood between March 2005 and August 2005. All entries were checked by Les Curwood.
It has been updated with corrections and additions as at 22nd November 2005.
It was prepared in text form as a paper document with copies to be kept in the Church and Cogges Church Office.
An electronic version, distributed on a CD-ROM, of the full text of the transcript with the addition of photographs of the graves taken during the transcription, is available from the Oxfordshire Family History Society.
This web version is based on the CD-ROM version.

The Plan which accompanies this record, was prepared from a map produced from the survey carried out by David J. Page, Chartered Architect, in 1993.
The accompanying churchyard area plans are sections from that survey and have been updated to include more recent graves and monuments.
The accompanying Church plan shows the approximate position of the monument which is either on the floor or wall.

The Numbering System used to identify the graves, divides the Church and churchyard into five main sections.

The Church is designated by the initial letter C. This letter is followed by a three-digit number indicating the individual monument within the section.

The churchyard is divided into four sections designated by the initial letters: A, B, D, E. This letter is followed by a three-digit number indicating the individual grave or monument within the section.
These areas of the plan are:

C
The Church itself, coloured white on the plan.
A
The western end of the churchyard, coloured red on the plan.
B
The northern end of the churchyard, coloured blue on the plan.
D
The southern end of the churchyard, coloured dark green on the plan.
E
The eastern end of the churchyard, coloured yellow on the plan.
In all areas a simple sequential numbering system has been adopted.

The Convention Used when recording the inscriptions, was to follow the capitalisation where possible. There is no attempt to follow the typeface of the original inscription. All punctuation visible on the stone is transcribed as accurately as possible, within the limitations of the computer typeface. In certain cases a compromise has to be made. Most noticeably, many stones have the word "ye" written as a small "e", directly above the "y". This is represented here with the "e" as a superscript, immediately following the "y", thus: ye.

Where part of a stone is not decipherable square brackets are used to indicate missing letters or words, thus [ ]. If the spacing of the surrounding letters gives a clue to the number of missing letters these will be marked within the bracket thus: [_ _ _]. If a letter is in doubt, it will be placed in square brackets in the same way, or possible alternatives may be indicated, thus: Died 187[0 or 6].

In the standard paper transcripts the "/" symbol is used to indicate line ends, in order to save space. In this web version, space is not at a premium and the lines are placed as found on the stone. However no attempt is made to fit the modern type to the correct line lengths and all the lines are centred. The true layout can usually be judged from the photograph.

Additional Information about the grave, is shown in italics. Normally this consists of a brief description of the grave, preceding the inscription. In some cases further information may be added, in italics, following the inscription. This is often information from the burial register, indicated thus: Burial Register: etc.. This is only included where it adds information, or confirms or contradicts something read from the stone.
Key to Burial Register references:
The pre-1813 Burial Registers have been referred to but references cannot be given as the entries were not numbered.
A001 - A800 refers to Burial Register dated 1813 - 1981
B001 - onwards refers to Burial Register dated 1982 - 2005

Grateful Thanks are due to the following people for giving us permission to carry out the recording and for offering their help and encouragement.

Andrew Sweeney
Vicar of St. James the Great South Leigh, for permission to transcribe the monuments.
David Page
For allowing his plan of St. James the Great, Church and Churchyard, to be used for this project.
Cogges Church Office
For permission to view and make notes from the current Burial Register.
Church Lane, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX28 3LA.
Tel: 01993 779613
email: office@coggesparish.com
Oxfordshire Record Office
For permission to view and make notes from the two completed Burial Registers.
St Luke's Church, Temple Road, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2HT.
Les Curwood
For taking the photographs, April 2005 to August 2005 and for producing this web version.
For producing the version to be sold by the Oxfordshire Family History Society on CD-ROM.
Malcolm Harper
For putting this project onto the Cogges website.


The Parish Church of St. James the Great, South Leigh, Oxfordshire. Copyright © St. James the Great South Leigh Parochial Church Council, 2006
Updated 22nd November 2005 Feedback