Thursday, July 13, 2017

Forgotten gravestones in the Basque Country


I had the opportunity to visit Barcus and Esquiule last​ year, their churches, graveyards and town halls. But only Marie Larrory was supposed to be buried there (Marianne Etchegoren migrated with her family shortly after Marguerite Lerdou was born). Unfortunately she was not in the grave of the present-day Larrory and she could be buried in one of the many unkept headstones which names are almost completely erased. 

We waited for the town hall to open and asked for information regarding these tombs. They had none, the oldest records went missing a long time ago and recommended to try to identify them by gravestone rubbing. They were many headstones in this pitiful condition and we were only there for the day. I guess a collaborative restoration and indexing project is in order.