The churchyard is still open for burials in the extension on the far side of the churchyard from the entrance. The original churchyard ended a little west of the church where there is now a bank. The part above the bank was added shortly before 1948. The last extension was added in 2000.
The burial registers are in the Medway Archives and can be viewed online.
War Memorial
The parish war memorial is in the churchyard. Ian Craig has written a booklet about the memorial and those named on it. The booklet includes information about some other war victims. It can be bought in the church for £2.00 or be viewed or downloaded from the following link:
The churchyard contains a number of graves of men who gave their lives in the two world wars four of which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and mentioned on its web site. These are near the south east (far left) corner of the church and their inscriptions read:
SE/22545 Private Frank Noble Royal Army Vet. Corps 6th October 1914 + “Gone but not forgotten” (his name is not on the war memorial)
M/32520 Sergeant T A Bennett Royal Army Service Corps 23rd October 1920 age 26 + “Thy will be done Matt xxvi 42 (his name is not on the war memorial)
7011358 L Cpl J C McCaul 19th June 1940 Age 28 + “We loved him dearly Our love shall not die”
<RAF> also Peter John Brown aged 20 who died June 1st 1941 in the service of his country
(this inscription is on a gravestone also for another member of his family – His name is not on the war memorial)
Others buried or recorded in the churchyard include George Baker who served in France but died on 10 May 1929 and Arthur Levett who died on 11 June 1943 Arthur Welch (died 29 September 1917) is mentioned on a family gravestone but was buried in Belgium. These are not the only graves of those who died in both World Wars or served in them. Most who died on active service have no known burial or are buried on the continent.
Memorial Inscriptions
A survey of the memorials up to 1930 both inside and outside the church was carried out in 2013 by David Williams. He also researched some of the burials and the results are in the notes. The transcriptions and notes are arranged in sections according to their position. They include some memorials which have disappeared but have previously been recorded. The files are in pdf format so you will need Acrobat Reader or a similar program to read them. The maximum file size is 345 kb except the photographs file which is 1.9 mb.
Church interior Interior notes
Photographs of selected memorials
Other burials
Joseph Wells, grandfather of the author H.G. Wells – see this article: The H.G. Wells Connection . See survey of memorial inscriptions section D 154 and notes.
George “Cutter” (or “Farmer”) Bennett, (died 1886) England cricketer – see Wikipedia article . See survey of memorial inscriptions and notes section C 126 and notes.
St Peter & St Paul, Shorne 