A thank-you for your churchyard gravestone recorders: a photo of a row of old lichen-covered headstones leaning in the long grass, or a volunteer's clipboard and soft brush beside a weathered inscription in low autumn sun as a jigsaw

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any parish council, parochial church council, diocese, church, churches trust, family history society, genealogy website, local history society, archaeological society, civic society, heritage trust, heritage body, heritage funder, sponsor, school or community organisation.

It's a bright, cold Friday afternoon at the end of October, and the sun is low enough to rake across the churchyard. That matters, because it's the only time of day when the old inscriptions on the south side can be read at all. A retired librarian called Helen is kneeling on a foam pad in front of a leaning headstone, its face patched with yellow and grey lichen, reading the letters out slowly. Beside her, a volunteer called Raj writes them on a record sheet on his clipboard, leaving gaps where the stone has worn away, and marks the grave's number on the churchyard plan. A woman walking her dog stops at the path. "Are you looking for someone?" Helen looks up. "In a way. We're writing down everyone, so nobody gets lost."

If you want to say thank you to people like Helen and Raj, this is a guide to doing it well, with or without a puzzle.

Who we mean

Across many countries, and especially in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, volunteers record the memorials in churchyards and cemeteries: the names, dates and words carved on headstones, chest tombs, crosses and wall tablets, along with a plan of where each one stands. These records are often called monumental inscriptions, or MIs. They're used by family historians, local historians, churches planning churchyard work, and people trying to find a grandparent's grave. Behind one churchyard survey there is often a whole team:

• recorders who read and write down each inscription, word for word
• the volunteer who draws or updates the churchyard plan and numbers every memorial
• photographers who take a picture of every stone
• typists and checkers who turn handwritten sheets into a clean, searchable record
• people who check the record against burial registers and old surveys
• volunteers who clear brambles and long grass so the stones can be reached, within what the church allows
• organisers who keep the project going over months or years
• fundraisers and the society or group that publishes the finished record
• churchwardens and the parochial church council who give permission and help
• the people who did the first survey decades ago, whose notes now show words that have since worn away

Why a thank-you matters here

Recording gravestones is slow, careful, often uncomfortable work: kneeling in wet grass, squinting at worn letters, going back again when the light is better. Most of the people who benefit from it will never meet the recorders. A family in another country finds a great-great-grandmother's name and dates online, and has no idea that someone knelt in a churchyard on a cold afternoon to read them. And as stones weather, some records become the only surviving copy of what was written. A few honest sentences saying that their work found someone, or simply that it was noticed, can mean more than they'd say.

A little honest background

It helps to get the basics right in a note, because recorders know their churchyard, and the craft, well.

Older headstones are often sandstone, limestone or slate; later ones are frequently marble or granite. Different stones weather in different ways, and some inscriptions become very hard to read. Recorders usually rely on patience, a soft brush for loose dirt, and the angle of the light. Many guidance notes for churchyard recording advise against harsh cleaning, wire brushes, chalk, shaving foam or anything else that could damage the stone or the lichen, and against rubbing, which can harm fragile surfaces. If you're not sure what's allowed, the recorders and the church will know.

Lichens on old stones can be worth protecting in their own right, and some churchyards are surveyed for them too. So don't scrape them off to get a clearer photo.

Records are often published by family history societies, local history groups or the church itself, sometimes online and sometimes as a booklet. If you're not sure who did the first survey or when, say so. "We think the first record was made in the seventies" is better than a confident guess, and the organiser will probably be delighted to tell you.

What makes a good photo

• a row of old headstones in the long grass, with the church tower behind
• a single weathered stone in low side light, so the carved letters stand out
• a recorder's clipboard and record sheet on a foam pad, with a soft brush beside it
• the hand-drawn churchyard plan, numbered stone by stone
• lichen patterns on an old stone, close up
• the recording team on the path, if everyone has agreed

Getting the JPG right

Use a JPG, sharp and well lit. Low autumn or winter sun from the side is often what makes worn inscriptions readable, so try mid-morning or late afternoon on a clear day. Don't wet, chalk, rub or scrub a stone to make the letters show, and don't lean on or move anything; old headstones can be unstable. Keep to the paths where you can. Graves are personal, so be careful with names: avoid recent graves, and keep visitors, mourners, children and readable names off the photo unless the family and the recorders have agreed. A stone so old the name has worn away, or a clipboard with the writing turned away from the camera, can say just as much.

Privacy and an optional PIN

Puzzlify puzzles are private links. You can add an optional PIN so only the person you send it to can open it. Photos aren't used to train AI and aren't shared with third parties.

Say it's from you

Put your name, or your family's, class's or group's, in the note at the end so they know who sent it. A puzzle that ends with "from the Kumar family in Leicester, who found Great-Grandma Ellen because of you" is a thank-you, not a mystery.

Piece counts

Lichen and stone are full of fine texture, which makes them good puzzles, but a 252-piece puzzle on a small phone screen can be fiddly; choose 24 or 48 for children or for a quick smile, and save the bigger counts for a tablet or a computer.

How to send it

Make the puzzle, write the note, publish the link, and send it by email or message, or print the link as a QR code inside a card. The recipient doesn't need an account or an app; it plays in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. The note appears when the last piece clicks into place.

Note examples

• "Thank you for writing down every name. Because of you, nobody here is lost."
• "To Helen, who read our stones in the right light, again and again."
• "Raj, thank you for the plan. We found Grandad's grave in five minutes."
• "From Year 6: thank you for showing us how to read the old letters."
• "From the family history society: thank you for every cold afternoon on your knees."
• "We live four thousand miles away. Thank you for finding Ellen for us."

What it costs, plainly

The preview is free, so you can see how it looks before deciding anything. Publishing the link costs one credit (€3.99), or less per puzzle with a bundle. It's a digital puzzle, not a printed or cardboard one, so nothing arrives in the post. If a card and a few sentences feel like enough, they are.

Ideas that are not a puzzle

• a handwritten card, perhaps telling them whose grave you found through their record
• a short message to the parish magazine or the family history society newsletter naming the recorders
• a donation towards publishing or digitising the record, in their name
• an offer of your own time: typing up sheets, checking entries or clearing grass on a work morning
• a flask of tea and a foam kneeling pad for the next recording afternoon

Where Puzzlify fits

Puzzlify turns a personal photo into a private digital jigsaw that you send as a link. It isn't a printed puzzle, and it isn't a public puzzle board: only the people you send it to can open it. It's one option among many, and it works best when the photo means something to the person receiving it.

If a photo puzzle feels right as well, choose a row of old stones, one weathered inscription in low light, the clipboard and brush, or the old plan, take it with permission and without touching the stones, keep recent graves, children and readable names out of the frame, pick a piece count that suits them, and write the note in your own words. You can make a free preview here and decide later whether to send it.

Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you, written to the person who knelt in the long grass on a cold October afternoon, waiting for the sun to come round, so that a family on the other side of the world could find a name.

Written by the small team behind Puzzlify (info@puzzlify.app). Not legal, historical, religious, genealogical, burial, listed building, conservation, insurance, health and safety, safeguarding, copyright, data protection, photography permission or employment advice. Check your own group's, church's and council's guidance on gifts, photos, the memorials, children and people's details.