www.littlewenlock.org

St Lawrence Church

Churchyard Conservation

We are keen to make the most of the substantial churchyard around St Lawrence for the whole community.

As a peaceful area of open space in the heart of the village it has great potential for use in both appropriate conservation and recreation.

Especially so given the excellent conservation results demonstrated by a number of other churches in Shropshire under the auspices of Caring for God’s Acre .

In addition to a traditional line of substantial yew trees along its roadside boundary, the churchyard boasts a large cypress which has long provided a natural shelter for local youngsters, a blue cedar planted to commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and a selection of other established trees and shrubs.

Although held back by years of close mowing, the richness of its mixed grass sward has recently been underlined by two small trial areas left un-mown over the mid-summer period. These have quite literally blossomed with a wonderful array of wild flowers and herbs, providing a major attraction for butterflies, moths, hover flies and a range of other insects as well as a superb backdrop of colour.

The Parochial Church Council and Parish Council are, together, exploring the opportunities for managing these resources more sympathetically for both conservation and community use in the future.

The first phase in this project - a successful Discovery Event held with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust in early August 2007 – brought together a number of members of the community to quantify the wildlife resources the churchyard supports. Collated by SWT, this baseline survey gives us a valuable starting point for future management efforts.

We are also conducting a simple of survey of all households in the village to establish the things most people most appreciate about the churchyard and how, if at all, they might like to see it changed.

At the same time, several volunteers are visiting other churches with conservation projects in South Shropshire, in particular, to learn from their experience.

Putting these individual elements together, we intend to produce a recommended management action plan by the end of 2007 for community agreement and implementation from the 2008 growing season.

This is likely to divide the churchyard into a number of areas to be managed in different but complementary ways to ensure the best possible balance between wildlife conservation and peaceful contemplation and remembrance for all concerned.

Project co-ordinator, George Chancellor (507675) would welcome a call from anyone interested in getting involved in the project in any capacity – from expressing their views to rolling up their sleeves and helping with the work.