Gwent Living Churchyards Project
Gwent Wildlife Trust is looking for churchyards with wildlife appeal to take part in a new Living Churchyards Project! The Trust has been successful in securing funding for the 3 year project thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund, CCW, Wye Valley AONB and 4 of Gwent’s five Local Authorities.
The project aims to increase awareness of the value of Gwent’s churchyards, cemeteries and sacred grounds as sites of great importance for wildlife, and to provide support and advice to help local communities learn more about churchyard wildlife, and how to encourage it.
Our churchyards have always been special places. They are places of quiet solitude where, for centuries, people of all denominations have come to reflect and to remember. We think of these places as havens of peace and tranquillity and for many a place to remember their loved ones. What is perhaps surprising is just how important our churchyards can be for wildlife!
Gwent’s churchyards provide important wildlife havens. They support some of our finest displays of wildflowers and ancient trees, and are home to a variety of wildlife including bats, birds and butterflies. They are also important places for archaeology and history, revealing evidence of the past and documenting the lives of people who have lived and worked in the parish.
We want to get people out and into these fantastic places for people and wildlife, and support them in learning more about wildlife and exploring the links churchyards have with the past. This could include helping to count orchids or birds, measuring veteran trees, mapping gravestones, researching the church’s history, or helping to manage a wildflower meadow area.
We can offer: Wildlife surveys, help setting up ‘friends of’ groups, help with writing a management plan, training days in traditional management, and advice on how to encourage wildlife, as well as help to develop interpretation boards and leaflets for visitors.
The project is based on the long running success of the Caring for Gods Acre scheme in Herefordshire. Their experience shows churchyards can become a focus for human activity as well as wildlife, yet still remain a place of quiet solace and contemplation. We want to work with churches and local communities to achieve the same in Gwent and are looking for churches, cemeteries, and local community groups to get involved.
If you would like to learn more or are keen to develop a living churchyards group in your area please contact me for more information:
Rebecca Price (Living Churchyards Project Officer) .
Tel: 01600 740358 or email