One hundred and fifty years have past since Connolly's day, thanks to his efforts we have an accurate record of all the monuments, which even if they survived the dark days of the 1960's, would have endured a century and a half of additional weathering and in some cases, no doubt, have been obliterated. When he died in 1875, it was his wish to be buried in the vicinity of the old spot he loved so much, so he rests in the cemetery close by." Leeds goes on to say, "Mr Connolly remarks that it had been his father's intention to write a History of Gillingham, but his removal to the War Office, on leaving the Corps, interfered with the completion of his project. when I was quite a boy, I can recollect that he was always grubbing about among the tomb stones, but I did not know until some time ago, that he had gone to the extent of copying every tomb stone in the churchyard"
Leeds in "Chats about Gillingham", 1906, quotes Connolly's son, Stephen, on his father's activities, ". I have included monuments recorded by John Thorpe and by earlier antiquaries, which are now lost, as well as post – Connolly monuments.Ĭ.S. Many of the interior monuments Connolly recorded, and also those recorded by John Thorpe in the early 18th century, are now (2015), covered by carpets or wooden floors. He also included descriptions of each monument, often at great length, especially the interior ones, (I have simplified Connolly's descriptions). The Victorian cemetery, to the east of the churchyard ( Grange Road Cemetery), also had the majority of it's monuments destroyed in modern times, I am including the surviving monuments from this cemetery.Ĭonnolly recorded the inscriptions exactly as originally laid out, he had excavations made to record every buried line. The large churchyard at Gillingham now resembles parkland, with some fine trees but the church appears rather isolated amongst a large expanse of grass, and with the majority of the monuments gone, the site has a rather desolate air to it, having lost it's former atmosphere and historic interest. In the Medway Towns, Gillingham and Strood suffered the worst destruction, whereas others, such as All Saints, Frindsbury fortunately retain all their monuments. About a hundred years later, when the local authority took over responsibility for the maintenance of the churchyard, the majority of monuments in the churchyard were destroyed, probably to make grass cutting easier! Many of those destroyed would now be protected by Grade 2 listing by English Heritage. Connolly, Quarter Master, Royal Engineers, in 1862. The churchyard inscriptions, 1 – 612 and the interior inscriptions, 613 – 671, were transcribed by Captain T.
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