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Key Hill Cemetery

I thought some might like to see these unusual photo's Brett said it was fine to post them here.



I was down at Key Hill yesterday and wondered if any of the pictures I took would be of use to you.
I currently work in a voluntary capacity as photographer for the Birmingham 13 magazine in Moseley
Please feel free to contact me if you have any photo requirements for your ongoing campaign and I will oblige if I can.
All the best
Brett Wilde
 
Wendy, what unusual photos - I wonder how the effect was achieved - either with the camera at the time of taking or afterwards on the computer. I think they look very atmospheric.
Thanks for posting them and thanks to Brett for taking them.
 
Wendy said:
Just to put your minds at rest the photo in the foreground with the name Hirons has been in two halves for years. I have a photo of the grave taken two years ago half buried in two pieces. The grave has been put back upright and the other half laid near by. It has probably been cleaned which is why it looks like a new break. There is also a child buried in this grave named Marian Gascoigne just in case someone recognises the names.
Click to expand...

Hi Wendy
Here's a little info to 'pad out' the Hirons/Gascoigne grave.

Marian Edith R Hirons B1892 Bham married Fred Gascoigne B1896 Bham in 1918 JFM. From the 1911 census it appears Fred's father, William Linall? Gascoigne B1859 West Brom, was an Undertaker working on own account living at 193 Spring Hill. Fred was a Clerk. Marian's father was a bricklayer.
Marian and Fred had 2 children from what I can see, Marian Gascoigne B1920 OND and died OND 1920:( also John A Gascoigne B1918 Bham.

Suzanne:)
 
Thanks Terry I do have some info. Most of the Martineau family are buried at Key Hill their grave was buried like my family grave but sadly the Martineau grave was quite badly damaged.
 
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Hi Wendy, I have a suspected ancestor buried in Key Hill, Ann THOMPSON, buried early 1873, reference No. 22187, 1 vault G, I was wondering if next time you visit you might be able to have a look and see if any other information is on the vault as well as any other Thompsons that might be interred as well.
Thanks
Peter (a transplanted Brummie in Oz)
 
Hello Peter, I think Wendy is unavailable for a couple of days, but I can answer this for you. The public vaults you speak of have no information on - there is merely a stone tablet on the wall, which has names on - BUT, the names are only of the ones who could afford to pay the cost, there are other people in there whose names are not on the tablet. The tablets are badly eroded, also, so a lot of names are not readable. If you give me a short while (perhaps a week) I will be able to find out from the burial number (what you give as a reference), exactly who it is who is buried there, and her home address, that is if she died at home. If she died in hospital, you may be out of luck. Usually you will find that all the people in a public grave are unrelated, but there may be a way we can find out if any more from the same address are there. - Shortie
 
At long last I managed to visit Key Hill a couple of weeks ago on when I made it down to Brum for almost 2 weeks (oh it was bostin to be down 'home' again). I took somewhere in the region of 100+ pics that day, the bluebells were so beautiful & the whole place had such a lovely calm atmosphere about it. Thanks to the lovely man who was working in there (it would've been Thurs 20th May), he was a 'Friend' & gave us a leaflet about the work that you all do in Key Hill (he was tall, very slim & wore glasses, dressed in denim shirt & jeans.....thank you whoever you were, it was so lovely to have someone show you around a bit & tell you some information about the place). So, I've had a wee look around Key Hill & Warstone Lane now......oh I'm such a culture vulture aren't I?? lol
 
Dolphie, I am so glad you managed to get to Key Hill. It has such a lovely atmoshere there doesn't it?
The lovely man that was working there sounds like Richard - he lives near the cemetery and he knows a lot about all the graves. I would love to see some of your photos - perhaps you could post a few of your favourites on here.
Polly :)
 
Will do Polly...........yes, Key Hill seemed to have a special charm about it, helped of course by the beautiful weather & lots of lovely bluebells...gorgeous. I'll try & resize some photos & post on here.
 
The mystery man in denim sounds like Richard one of the lovely volunteers at the cemetery. Sorry I am late as Shortie said we have been away.
 
Hello Peter

The lady buried at Key Hill is down in the records as Annie Thompson Last known address was 112 Holt Street
she was aged 82 years Next of Kin was William Thompson. I hope this is of some help to you. Shortie
 
Thanks Shortie, it looks like she is not one of mine afterall, but will keep it in my records just in case.

Best wishes peter

Shortie said:
Hello Peter

The lady buried at Key Hill is down in the records as Annie Thompson Last known address was 112 Holt Street
she was aged 82 years Next of Kin was William Thompson. I hope this is of some help to you. Shortie
Click to expand...
 

Peter
In case you later find a connection with Mrs Ann Thompson, she is listed as a shopkeeper at 112 Holt St from sometime between 1858 and 1862 till 1873. In 1862 she is described as a milk seller.
Mike
 
Hopefully this photo will show the lovely man who spoke to us in Key Hill in May. I'll resize some more when I can & add them here.:)
 
Dolphie said:
Hopefully this photo will show the lovely man who spoke to us in Key Hill in May. I'll resize some more when I can & add them here.:)
Click to expand...
Lovely photo thanks for posting it - doesn't the cemetery look tidy! Yes I think it is Richard - I saw him on Sunday at the history fair and told him that someone had mentioned him on the forum and he does remember speaking to someone. He is lovely and does a lot of work for the cemetery.
Polly :)
 
Dont want to bore everyone because I did take rather a lot of photos of this place because it was so beautiful (ermm, somewhere in the region of 50+!!) so I'll just post these few here & hope it's ok. I've put most of them onto Photobox so if anyone wants to see more just email me & I'll invite you to view them on there.
 
Great photos - there are quite a few Key Hill fans on here so don't worry about boring us!
it is lovely for me to see the photos as I didn't manage to visit while the bluebells were out and you have included one of my family grave - so thank you.
Polly :)
 
1Lovely photo's Dolphie I missed some of the bluebells so its so nice to see your photo's!
 
It is so nice to see Key Hill in Spring with the bluebells in flower. I was with my sister a couple of weeks ago, we had lunch at the Jewellers Arms and because our Gt Granny is buried in Warstone Lane and Jenn had not been there before, we walked around getting very depressed at what we saw.
 
Wendy, if you pm me your email address I'll send you an invite to view the rest on Photobox if you'd like.:)
 
Hi Wendy, am trying to find William and Sarah norton and any other nor tons buried at key hill. Any idea where I could find them? Regards Steve taylor
 
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