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This Record of the Monumental Inscriptions at the former site of St Peter-le-Bailey parish church, at Bonn Square, Oxford, was prepared by Oxfordshire Family History Society in 2009, using information recorded by Oxford Archaeology, during their excavation of the site in 2008. A full report of the excavation will appear in Oxoniensia in due course but Oxford Archaeology have generously made their transcript and photographs available to the society for publication here, for the benefit of Family Historians.

This version, follows the format developed for OFHS transcriptions of existing Oxfordshire churchyards and available from the society in the form of compact disks. Magnified versions of the photographs may be obtained by clicking the image. In many cases, clicking again will reveal supplementary close-up images.

Many of the photographs include a ranging pole to indicate the size of the stones. In most cases this is a 1 metre pole with red and yellow divisions, each 20cm long. For a few of the smaller stones a 0.5 metre pole has been used, with red and white divisions, each 10cm long.

The Numbers used to identify the graves, are those assigned by Oxford Archaeology during the excavation.

The Convention Used when displaying the inscriptions, is the standard method, whereby only the surname is shown in capital letters, with the rest of the inscription in lower case. There is no attempt to follow the capitalisation, or typeface, of the original inscription. Capitalisation of initial letters of names and the start of sentences follows modern practice. 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].

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 transcript, indicated thus: BR:..

Grateful Thanks are due to Oxford Archaeology and Oxford City Council for allowing us to publish this information. In particular we would like to thank Andy Norton, who was in charge of the operation and Sharon Clough, who prepared the text and descriptions of the inscriptions for publication.

Oxford Archaeology is one of Europe's largest independent providers of archaeology services and heritage services and has offices in Oxford, Cambridge, Lancaster and Montpellier, France. More information can be found on their web site at http://thehumanjourney.net/


The Parish Church of St Peter-le-Bailey, Oxford. Copyright © Oxfordshire Family History Society, 2009