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 - 50 of 126 results
Taxa No. of records Most recent record
Acrocordia conoidea 1 1994
Acrocordia salweyi 1 1994
Agonimia tristicula 1 1994
Amandinea punctata 1 1994
Apis mellifera (Western Honey Bee) 1 2014
Apus apus (Swift) 19 2020
Arthonia calcarea 1 1994
Aspicilia calcarea 1 1994
Aspicilia contorta subsp. contorta 1 1994
Baeomyces rufus 1 1994
Bagliettoa parmigera s. lat. 1 1994
Belonia nidarosiensis 1 1994
Bilimbia sabuletorum 1 1994
Blennothallia crispa 1 1994
Bombus pratorum (Early Bumblebee) 1 2014
Botryolepraria lesdainii 1 1994
Buellia ocellata 1 1994
Caloplaca aurantia 1 1994
Caloplaca chrysodeta 1 1994
Caloplaca dalmatica 1 1994
Caloplaca decipiens 1 1994
Caloplaca flavescens 1 1994
Caloplaca flavocitrina 1 1994
Caloplaca flavovirescens 1 1994
Caloplaca marmorata 1 1994
Caloplaca oasis 1 1994
Caloplaca teicholyta 1 1994
Caloplaca variabilis 1 1994
Candelariella aurella f. aurella 1 1994
Candelariella medians f. medians 1 1994
Candelariella vitellina f. vitellina 1 1994
Catillaria chalybeia var. chalybeia 1 1994
Catillaria lenticularis 1 1994
Cladonia coniocraea 1 1994
Cladonia pyxidata 1 1994
Clauzadea monticola 1 1994
Columba palumbus (Woodpigeon) 3 2021
Diploicia canescens 1 1994
Diploschistes scruposus 1 1994
Diplotomma alboatrum 1 1994
Dirina massiliensis f. sorediata 1 1994
Enchylium tenax var. ceranoides 1 1994
Erinaceus europaeus (West European Hedgehog) 1 2017
Evernia prunastri (Oak Moss) 1 1994
Falco tinnunculus (Kestrel) 1
Flavoparmelia caperata 1 1994
Galium murale (Small Goosegrass) 1 2023
Gyalecta truncigena 1 1994
Harmonia axyridis (Harlequin Ladybird) 1 2014
Hypogymnia physodes (Dark Crottle) 1 1994

Charts showing breakdown of occurrence records ([counting] records)

Data sets Licence Records