Churchyard

St Mary’s stands in a churchyard spreading over 9 acres. The churchyard is still in use for burials and has four cremation plots.

Each month (1st Saturday) a dedicated team from the church work to maintain the churchyard. This is a huge job and volunteers are more than welcome. It is a terrific workout and much cheaper than the gym (in fact it’s free – fantastic!!)

We treat the churchyard as an important ecological area. Some of the older parts are left to grow ‘wild’ which is great for wildlife, and others are kept neat in order to help rare flowers and the abundance of daffodils and bluebells in the spring.

The photos below represent the churchyard through time (older photographs reproduced with permission from www.leodis.org).

Result of the storm in 1832 (as depicted on a window in church)

1900s

1920s

April 2009

A lovely day in 2009

Churchyard Clearup Team May 2009

Certificate awarded to the church in 2003 for Churchyard Conservation