The churchyard, God’s acre, is one of the most enduring
features of the landscape. Together with the church it forms the
physical as well as the spiritual centre of the community.It is the most sacred and usually the most ancient enclosure in
the parish. Some churchyards may be even older than the church
itself, having their roots in pre-Christian ceremony.The memorials, public and private, are a tangible link
John Talbot White
between the inhabitants today and their forebears. The
churchyard is the centre of communal worship and celebration,
the site of the most important occasions of life, baptism, marriage
and burial.
The project seeks to bring people closer through the opening
up and sharing of our sacred community space, whilst also
celebrating its biodiversity and wildlife – with a focus on how
we can build on what is currently there.
To help us with our project we are talking to Somerset Botany Group
who help with survey work for the Wilder Churches initiative – we hope
we can arrange a study over the coming months – we can then reflect upon it over the summer.
Dave Sayers our wonderful volunteer mower man has agreed to
continue to cut the lower burial ground grass and make wide pathways
which will be maintained on the grassy areas on the East and West sides
of the church. All areas with cremation tablets will be mowed and/or
strimmed and around the war memorial this area will also be mowed.
We will be looking to add bird, bat, bee and hedgehog homes, the
addition of further wildflower seed mixes (suitable for our soil type and
area) and perennials (e.g. Field Scabious and Ox-eye daisy). Our aim is
to create a haven for bees, birds and butterflies.
We seek to build on the earlier work of nature recording on iNaturalist.
To join us in this work please download the app and join the Theale
Somerset Recording Group – which is registered under the projects tab.
One of the aims of the project will be to manage the land in the most
effective way for nature and for humans too – we seek to find the right
balance.
We will be investing in a water butt for the watering of plants and
flowers.
We will also be investing in some signs to explain the aims and
ethos behind the burial ground stewardship of protecting and
rejuvenating our treasured little corner of the village.
Birds in the burial ground – we are very fortunate to have access
to some fantastic cutting edge bird recording equipment – Wilder Sensing uses Artificial Intelligence to analyse the sounds recorded by simple audio devises and identifies which species of bird are using the site. We are grateful to Geoff Carss of Wilder Sensing for providing us with this equipment. Further info: www.wildersensing.com
For more information, see the document below: