Churchyard Management Plan
Photograph kindly provided by Grant Sherriffs
The Churchyard – God’s acre – can become a sanctuary for the living as well as the dead, with an abundance and diversity of indigenous and naturalized wildlife.
We are proposing this year to explore ways in which to manage the Churchyard that are sympathetic to the natural habitat and ecology of native plants and animals.
This can be achieved by designating some parts as ‘meadow areas’, which are mown less frequently in order to allow wild flowers to grow and set seed, and other parts as permanent close-mown grass. When defining these areas, it is important to bear in mind that the churchyard should be
• A pleasant, reflective place for congregation and visitors
• A fit and proper setting for the church
• An environment in keeping with the purpose of burial and memorials to those who have been cremated, with an atmosphere of respect and commemoration for the departed
• A haven for grasses, wild flowers, trees, birds, butterflies and other wild creatures.
• Ideally, there should be a survey of species present in the intended ‘meadow areas’ in order to design the optimum mowing plan. However, a botanist who has visited the churchyard has pointed out that, because the grass has been mown so short everywhere, there are very few species of wild flowers evident. This may be because they have been cut down by the mowing. A small number of species has nevertheless been identified.
In order to determine the best way to achieve this, we propose to set up two ‘meadow areas’ to investigate the success of two different management plans, which if appropriate can be extended to a wider area. The two areas will both be in the open grass in the South East of the churchyard, and will not enclose any gravestones or other memorials. One area will be left to develop ‘as is’, the other will first be stripped of topsoil so as to reduce its fertility and hopefully allow the less vigorous plants to grow without being swamped by the more vigorous grasses.
The meadow areas will be left uncut until the end of September in the first year, in order to allow any wild flowers to bloom and set seed. The cuttings will then be removed. There will be a further cut at the end of October, again with removal of cuttings. This is important to reduce the fertility of the soil and encourage a greater diversity of wild flowers.
Other areas of the churchyard will be mown as at present, cutting regularly and closely.
There will be a further survey of the flowers in the meadow areas at the end of the first season, to determine whether the mowing pattern should be developed in the light of the species then present. It is hoped that parishioners of all ages might wish to become involved in surveys throughout the year.
If anyone has any questions or comments on what is being done, I will be happy to answer any questions and to provide further detail as required.