Stanton St Quintin – St Giles

About this Churchyard

Pass by the church in Stanton St. Quintin on a Saturday morning, you may see a band of volunteers hard at work in the churchyard.  This group has been managing the site for over 20 years, meeting once a month from March to November (twice in July, the busiest growing month.) The aim is to provide the best possible habitat for native plants, which in turn encourages a large range of insects and other invertebrates, followed by larger animals, such as bats or small mammals like the shrew, who form part of the food chain.

The overall appearance of the churchyard might seem rather haphazard, even overgrown in places, but the area is carefully managed, with some spaces left to grow long, other areas are mown and then raked.   Raking is important as most of our wildflowers thrive on low nutrient soil.  Grass cuttings are full of nutrients and provide a very useful mulch in a garden, but in the churchyard, this burst of food only encourages some of the less welcome species such as nettles and bramble.

In the churchyard, efforts are made to ensure that the plants that appear are all native species.  If new examples are planted, they are bought from certified growers of native plants, such as fritillaries for spring flowering, yellow or hay rattle, viper’s bugloss and stonecrops or summer flowering, betony and hawkbits to flower in autumn.  Some plants, such as ivy and dandelions, are kept in check, in case they out-compete the less vigorous species.  They are not removed entirely, as they are food plants for some insects and other wildlife.

June is the volunteer team’s birthday month when they celebrate another successful year of managing the churchyard for wildlife.  The group takes special pleasure this session to enjoy the areas around the church.  This would be an ideal time to visit and to see what goes on.  It is also time to appreciate the abundance of plant growth and insect activity.

The volunteer group is always on the look out for younger members of the community to join them. They have wild-life friendly bug-catchers to scoop up invertebrates and magnifying glasses to observe them up close. Hopefully, there will be plenty to see, including green-backed spiders, lacewings, bees and Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown butterflies.

species list

Key Features

• Wildflower area
• Wildlife haven
• Peaceful space for quiet reflection
• Good accessibility
• Stones with stories
• Memorials with famous or infamous connections
• Fascinating Monuments
• Lichen haven
• Lovely Lychgate
• Sheena-na-Gig and Christus