Many memorials in Gloucestershire (UK) churchyards and municipal cemeteries have deteriorated during recent years, so gravestones recorded by the Family History Societies in the 1980's are now no longer legible.
Dates and names on old stones should also be viewed with caution. The stone mason who carved the inscriptions only used the information he was given and the family informants sometimes did not always know the correct age at death themselves.
I began my churchyards and cemetery graveyards research back in the 1970's in my search for ancestor tombstones and recorded the inscriptions I found. Unfortunately I did not take photographs of them because it was not the thing to do in those days. Now when I re-visit these locations I am struck by the general deterioration of these tombstones with the passage of time.
I have also transcribed countless 16th/17th WILLS in order to make sense of the family relationships recorded in the Forest of Dean parish registers.

Ralph Bigland in his 1786 printed book of Gloucestershire Monumental Inscriptions recorded many stone box, flat ledger and headstones now no longer decipherable either by being completely worn away, sunk into the ground or toppled over.

My favourite churchyards are English Bicknor, Blaisdon, Lydney, Newland, Parkend and Staunton because many of my direct ancestors are buried there and fortunately many have extant tombstones: .