Ecological summary

Burial grounds are fantastic places for biodiversity, often containing species rich grassland which was once widespread in the UK. The walls and monuments create habitat for amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and invertebrates as well as ferns, mosses and liverworts. Of the 2,000 lichen species in the UK, 700 are found in churchyards with a third of these rarely found elsewhere. Check for thrushes feeding on yew berries and swifts and bats under the eaves.

Caring for God's Acre is a national charity dedicated to supporting those managing burial grounds for conservation and heritage purposes. More information on the support offered can be found on their website here: https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk. To view the occurrence records in this burial ground click on the View records button underneath the map.

Ancient & Veteran Trees

The UK holds a globally important population of veteran and ancient yew trees of which three-quarters are found in the churchyards of England and Wales. There are about 800 of these ancient and veteran yews, aged from 500 to several 1,000 years old, with no known upper age limit. Burial grounds may contain veteran trees of other species.

Burial grounds may also contain veteran trees of other species, acting as hosts to a wealth of associated plants, animals, lichen and fungi.

Bats and Swifts

Bats – Bats use both the buildings and also the mature and veteran trees within burial grounds to roost, breed and overwinter. These places are relatively unchanging and so populations may have built up over centuries. In addition, bats may forage and feed over the grassland and other vegetation, taking advantage of the wide variety of insect species to be found.

Swifts – The eaves, roofs, towers and steeples of historic churches and chapels, combined with the space around them for accessing nooks and crannies make burial grounds excellent for nesting swifts. These buildings are relatively unchanging and so populations may have built up over centuries. Nests are hard to find and so surveying is crucial for good management.

[counting] species

This map contains both point- and grid-based occurrences at different resolutions

Datasets

datasets have provided data to the NBN Atlas Beautiful Burial Grounds for this place.

Browse the list of datasets and find organisations you can join if you are interested in participating in a survey for this place.

Other Heritage Information

Group Species

[counting] species

This map contains both point- and grid-based occurrences at different resolutions

Showing 1 - 44 of 44 results
Taxa No. of records Most recent record
Buellia aethalea 1 2003
Caloplaca flavocitrina 1 2003
Caloplaca oasis 1 2003
Caloplaca saxicola 1 2003
Candelariella aurella f. aurella 1 2003
Candelariella vitellina f. vitellina 1 2003
Certhia familiaris (Treecreeper) 1
Coprinus comatus (Shaggy Inkcap) 1 2013
Crocus tommasinianus (Early Crocus) 1 2002
Crocus vernus x tommasinianus 1 2002
Crocus vernus (Spring Crocus) 1 2002
Flammulina velutipes (Coesyn Melfed) 1 2013
Galanthus elwesii (Greater Snowdrop) 1 2009
Galanthus nivalis x elwesii 1 2009
Galanthus woronowii (Green Snowdrop) 1 2013
Halyzia sedecimguttata (Orange Ladybird) 1 2013
Harmonia axyridis (Harlequin Ladybird) 5 2013
Hyacinthoides non-scripta (Bluebell) 2 2018
Ilex aquifolium x perado = I. x altaclerensis (Highclere Holly) 1 2020
Lecanora campestris subsp. campestris 1 2003
Lecanora conizaeoides f. conizaeoides 1 2003
Lecanora expallens 1 2003
Lecanora polytropa 1 2003
Lepraria finkii 1 2003
Lepraria incana s. lat. 1 2003
Myriolecis albescens 1 2003
Myriolecis dispersa 1 2003
Narcissus tazetta x cyclamineus = N. x cyclazetta (Head-to-head Daffodil) 2 2013
Opiliones 1 2013
Orgyia antiqua (Vapourer) 1 2013
Phaeophyscia orbicularis 1 2003
Physcia adscendens 1 2003
Physcia dubia 1 2003
Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia (Black-poplar) 2 2018
Porpidia tuberculosa 1 2003
Protoparmeliopsis muralis 1 2003
Rhizocarpon reductum 1 2003
Sylvia atricapilla (Blackcap) 1
Syrphus ribesii 1 2013
Trametes gibbosa (Lumpy Bracket) 1 2013
Turdus philomelos (Song Thrush) 1
Vanessa atalanta (Red Admiral) 1 2013
Verrucaria nigrescens 1 2003
Xanthoria parietina (Common Orange Lichen) 1 2003
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Charts showing breakdown of occurrence records ([counting] records)

Data sets Licence Records