Eco Comment – Love Your Burial Ground

Love Your Burial Ground

A few weeks ago, we in the Eco Group were thinking about the land around the cathedral and if it might be possible to do something to make it somewhere special to be. The Dean kindly sent us the plans of the cathedral grounds and we’ve had a few ideas. The initial idea came about because we’d discovered the following …

‘Love your Burial Ground Week’ is a celebratory week which has been running for many years. Caring for God’s Acre has been encouraging all who help to look after churchyards, chapel yards and cemeteries to celebrate these fantastic places in the lovely month of June – in any way you choose.

Whilst we’re too late to organise anything for this year, we wanted to share the event with you for the future. If you’re visiting other churches and/or cemeteries you might see them in a different light knowing what is happening across the country this week.

‘Churches Count on Nature 2023’ is part of ‘Love Your Burial Ground Week’, focusing on the brilliant wildlife to be found in churchyards and chapel yards. It is a is a joint initiative promoted by Caring for God’s Acre, the Church of England, the Church in Wales and A Rocha UK. Over 27,000 wildlife records have been submitted during this dedicated week over the past two years, and many recorders are continuing to submit records through the burial grounds project on iNaturalist UK. Many of the records have been verified and are available to view here.

Caring for God’s Acre works nationally to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy churchyards and burial grounds. There are over 25,000 burial grounds across the UK, ranging from small rural medieval churchyards to large Victorian city cemeteries, spanning different cultures, religions and centuries.

Appealing to many who are interested in local history and the natural world, burial grounds encapsulate the history of communities whilst offering refuge for our native wildlife.
For many people burial grounds are the only locally accessible green space. However, their heritage value, and even their continuing presence, cannot be taken for granted. They are under threat from development, closure, under management and mismanagement.

Susan Morgan
Eco Group