In the hamlet of Whitton, Shropshire lies the tiny Norman church of St Mary’s, it’s churchyard a swaying sea of ox-eye daisies. Peaceful and hidden from the road, this place has remained largely unchanged for centuries. On Sunday 11th June St Mary’s was host to local WI groups, who came together to discover more about […]
Hi Celia, please tell us a little about how your project began? Our beautiful churchyard and my love of nature inspired me to co-ordinate a God’s Acre Programme which has now existed for over 15 years. It first started with CFGA offering surveys of our trees and, at a later date, a lichen survey when […]
It has been a busy 9 months for Opening the Ark, since starting the project in November 2021 we have already managed to engage with over 500 people and counting. Our project is all about inviting the local community into their burial grounds to enthuse and engage them with biodiversity to be found there. We […]
We are absolutely thrilled that our Beautiful Burial Ground Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund has been awarded the Best Practice Award for Knowledge Sharing (2022) by the CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management). This award ‘recognizes the high standard of professionalism and ecological environmental management practice’ and has been given […]
If you plan to have wild flower areas in your burial ground that are welcome by visitors, communication is key. Conservation in these unique places is all about active management not neglect and we need to let people know what we’re doing so that they don’t become alarmed that grass might be longer/things are different […]
All Saints Church in Wokingham, Berkshire, has a major initiative underway to develop into an accessible and flexible community meeting space while retaining its role as a place of worship. A key aspect of this project is creating a centre for discovering and appreciating the heritage of the church and the town. The history of the […]
In 2019 the P.C.C of St John the Baptist in Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire was awarded a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to discover and share the secrets of Georgian history in Bishop’s Castle, a notorious Rotten Borough with an unusual number of beautiful monuments from the period within the churchyard. This project included […]
Exactly a year ago we were contacted at the Caring for God’s Acre office by a gentleman who was impressed by the YouTube video of our hand hay baler, but couldn’t find the plans on our website. We got back to him to say that we were concerned that the plans that we had on […]
When I began researching my Shropshire guidebook, I didn’t realise how much I’d grow to love churches. Trying new pubs and tea rooms was always going to be fun. I knew exploring hillforts, castles and forests would feel exhilarating. And I think most writers would find inspiration in old maps and local stories. It was […]
Making short films to support burial ground volunteers We are appealing to our partners and supporters (who understand the challenge of managing burial grounds!), to vote for our project in the Aviva Community Fund competition. https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/4-2216