Churchyard Projects from Around the Country

Northern Marches Cymru, which is a partnership of private, public, voluntary and community organisations, is working with the Open Church Network on an exciting new project, Sacred Space.

The Sacred Space project aims to develop the historic and environmental potential of churchyards of all denominations in the rural Wrexham area. The project will include the provision of management plans for churchyards, gravestone and wildlife surveys, conservation activities, workshops and interpretation material for outside panels/boards, leaflets, education packs and a website.

The Rural Development Plan for Wales has enabled funding for this project to be obtained from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Assembly Government until February 2011. For more details contact Heather Williams Tel: 01978 298386.

The Wiltshire Living Churchyards project has 45 participating Churchyards or areas of sacred land. We are helped and supported by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Wiltshire Churches Together and Social Responsibility in Wiltshire.

Wiltshire is known as the County of Chalk and Cheese with sparse downland habitat to the south and richer pastureland in the north, which provides an amazing range of floral diversity in the Churchyard projects. Some of our Churchyards have been managed in a wildlife friendly way by country folk for many years.

At our annual Seminar, we award certificates for continued wildlife management. These are approved and supported by the Bishops of Bristol and Salisbury. A couple of churchyard awards have continued management approaching 50 years.

If you would like to find out any more about us contact Ivan Randall 01249 657684.

The Project, a joint venture between Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the Yorkshire Dioceses of the Church of England, dates from 1988. The part-time post of Living Churchyard Officer necessitates reliance on a group of very competent volunteers to help with advisory visits to churchyards. Following on from a visit to meet those interested in their churchyard, suggestions for management, a list of the species seen or heard on the visit and an annotated map of the churchyard is sent to the parish. It is then up to them to implement or modify the suggestions. Each year, Churchyard Management Seminars are held together with a number of ‘Open Churchyards’.

Last year, a collection of leaflets on aspects of churchyard conservation management was brought together in one booklet ‘Churchyard Management’. This is available by post or on Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s website.

Visit http://www.gwentwildlife.org/livingchurchyards/index.htm for the latest news on ‘Living Churchyards’. The Newsletter is aimed at everyone involved in caring for the churchyards of Gwent, and interested in learning more about the wildlife they support.

Or email or telephone Gabi Horup: ghorup@gwentwildlife.org or 01600 740358.

Gabrielle Horup

Assistant Conservation Officer

Gwent Wildlife Trust, Seddon House, Dingestow, Monmouth, NP25 4DY

Registered charity number 242619 Limited liability company number 812535

Tel: 01600 740358
www.gwentwildlife.org

Wherever you happen to be in The Shropshire Hills you are within easy reach of a Parish church and churchyard.

Make time to explore the wealth of interest and enjoy the peace and quiet of these churchyards or ‘Living Sanctuaries’, as they have become known.

Click on the link below to download a copy

Explore Country Churchyards in the Shropshire Hills

Why not take time to explore the wealth of interest and enjoy the peace and quiet of these churchyards or "Living Sanctuaries", as they have become known.

You will find Victorian and medieval church buildings set within churchyards where the abundance of plant life and animal life, the carved stonework and the story of people who lived in The Wye Valley can be discovered.

Click on the link below to download a copy of the leaflet

Wye Valley Leaflet

Wherever you happen to be around the Malvern Hills AONB you are within easy reach of a Parish church and churchyard.

Click on the link below to download a copy of the Malvern Hills leaflet

Malvern Hills Leaflet

St Luke’s Church Great Crosby Grounds Project

“to create a place of beauty and a haven for people and wildlife”

Introduction

At St Luke’s we have begun to change the way we look at our church grounds. We no longer see them as a liability, but as an asset which God has given us to steward and to look after for the benefit of the local community. And so we developed a vision for our grounds - ‘to create a place of beauty and a haven for people and wildlife’. As we have embarked on this project interest has snowballed and we have found support in unexpected places.

Our website is http://stlukecrosby.org.uk/grounds/page00.shtml