LONG-FORGOTTEN gravestones and monuments in the New Forest are set to be given a new lease of life.

The National Park Authority is asking people to fill out a questionnaire to help locate any churchyards or burial grounds where there are monuments or gravestones in need of repair.

The information collected will be put onto a database, which will help map all the burial grounds in the New Forest, including recording details of who is responsible for their maintenance.

Frank Green, New Forest National Park Authority archaeologist, said: “Gravestones and monuments in cemeteries are privately owned and are usually erected by family members, so legally they are family heirlooms.

“This means that it is the family that has responsibility for maintaining the memorials, not the organisations that manage the burial sites.

“However locating family members responsible for maintaining gravestones that are hundreds of years old is virtually impossible, so this project will help ensure that these memorials, which contain so much social and family history, are kept in good order for future generations.”

To fill in the questionnaire go to newforsetnpa.gov.uk/memorials.