Hello All - . Recently a researcher asked about the "C" found next to burials in the St. Austell burial register (late 1600's, early 1700's). According to Canon Hammond, in his 1897 book, that designated people buried within the church walls, or floor. The cost was relatively low, so even non-parishioners were buried in that manner. The price was raised twice to discourage people, without seeming to work. Eventually, all such burials were banned, as they greatly weakened the church building.(In a later remodeling, the bones were removed & the building shored up.) . According to John Evans, OPC,in St Stephen in Brannel the first entry appears to be on 19 Oct 1736, when the Burial Register records that the deceased was "buried in the church". There are then another 14 burials, similarly noted in the Register, the last one being in 1755. In Roche, the first such entry appears in the Register on 26 Jun 1710 and there are then another 7 up to 1716, all of them noted in the Register. There is then a gap until 1725 when another burial has the notation "chancell". There is then another gap until 1734, when a spate of burials in the church began. From then until 1779 there are no less than 93 such burials, the majority noted in the Register as "buried in the church", but sometimes "buried in the chancel" and on 2 occasions "buried in the parson's chancel". . Terry Moyle, OPC, says "Church" was noted in early St. Keverne registers, as well. . so be on the watch for those designations, and if anyone has questions about various church records, or practices, be sure to ask the relevant OPC for that parish; you may be surprised at the answer! . (For newbies, the Online Parish Clerks are glad to help everyone with questions for Free!) . Cheers, . Julia M. . West Briton Transcriptions, 1836-1856 at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad St. Austell Area History and Genealogy at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~staustell Cornwall OPC at http://cornwall-opc.org