Graveboard at St
Giles, Codicote
GRAVEBOARDS - There are churchyards where all the above-ground evidence of burials has been removed - although sometimes the headstones have been preserved by arranging them in neat rows around the perimeters - but, in the main, the county's churches still have full churchyards and, in a few, Graveboards, or "Bedhead Graveboards" because of their shape, can be seen. These graveboards were a cheap wooden substitute for stone and so, accordingly, were liable to crumble away unless looked after and preserved. Two which have been preserved, with interesting inscriptions, can be seen in the churchyards at Baldock and Codicote whilst others can be found at Datchworth, Graveley, Sandon, Weston and at a few other places - but mostly without inscriptions and in varying states of decay.