Operated by East Boldre Community Stores Limited.
Community Benefit Society, number 8481
Gravestone Recording
Of the 500+ burials on the chapel site, 54 gravestones remain; some are very eroded and no longer fully legible. Thanks to players of the National Lottery we were awarded funding to produce a digital record of the gravestones and their inscriptions before they are eroded any further.
All of the gravestones have now been recorded using reflectance transformation imaging to reveal the full inscriptions and photogrammetry has been used to produce 3D models of each gravestone. We were supported by Gareth Owen and Hilde van der Heul (both archaeologists with the National Park Authority) in this element of the project. Gareth had been involved in an earlier similar project at St Michael's Lyndhurst and Hilde coordinated one of the volunteer gravestone cleaning teams.
In 2019, Dr James Miles (a computational archaeologist) of Archaeovision had carried out the project at St Michael’s church, Lyndhurst where Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) was used to record their headstones and improve the legibility of the inscriptions.
In preparation for recording, the gravestones were cleared of the masses of brambles and ivy and cleaned by teams of volunteers following War Memorial Trust guidelines. This revealed some text that was not previously visible.
James then captured the gravestones using two different techniques to produce remarkable results:
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Reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) reveals surface information not normally visible. Images are created from multiple photos, each taken with light projected from a different direction to produce varying highlights and shadows. These are combined to disclose fine details of the surface. This enabled the inscriptions to be read and recorded.
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Photogrammetry delivers a 3D image by combining multiple photos of an object taken from different angles all that’s needed is a camera.
Gravestone Imaging Results and Biographies
The gravestones are laid out along three sides of the narrow strip of land at the back of the chapel site. The layout below reflects this. Click on the name boxes beside each gravestone to see the imaging results and to find out more the people each gravestone commemorates.
LEFT HAND SIDE
RIGHT HAND SIDE
