Winter

 I am writing this on the last day of December 2023, a suitable day to look back on the previous twelve months in the churchyard. The weather has been a big factor in this years gardening, total polar opposites, very dry earlier in the year and progressively wetter as we moved through the year into Winter. There have been some successes (and a few failures) and it is our intention to build on them for next year 2024. The Sweet Pea experiment was a success however we need to build a better support framework this time. The orange Calendulas provided a lovely pop of colour in a vacant spot amongst the grave stones. Uncovering the Braddock grave was quite simply amazing and I thank the people who put so much research into the background uncovering a fascinating family history. Thank you also to the Old Glossop Community for all the bulbs planted, something to look forward to this Spring.

Thank you for reading this and also thank you to the people who pop by to say hello when we are working in the churchyard. 

Best wishes to everyone for 2024.

November leaves

 So a very wet November has passed by. Interestingly the leaves seem to have stayed on the trees longer this Autumn, I noticed this driving across Derbyshire and the colours were fantastic but eventually we get a strong enough wind and down they come. Part of our looking after the churchyard is clearing the paths and we gather up quite a number these are bagged into jute sacks and piled in our compost area, this is the second year we have done this and by this Autumn the four foot high pile had been reduced to a heap about a foot high of lovely compost all courtesy of the worms living in there so hopefully by this time next year we will have a nice pile of our own compost to use for planting up, I just need to remember to turn it occasionally. 

October

More wet weather but despite this we have been able to dodge the showers and do some tidying and planting up. A number of graves that had been tidied up earlier in the year required a revisit and weeding, it is amazing how much easier it is to rejuvenate an area already worked on.

We were approached by The Old Glossop Residents Association who not only gifted a large box of assorted bulbs but came along on the last Saturday of the month and planted them for us! We are extremely grateful and a big thank you to everyone who took part and also for the rather nice sponge cake we all enjoyed as we partook of tea in the church afterwards. Elsewhere near the West Porch we have cleared an area behind the railings and planted it up with three varieties of Wallflower which along with the bulbs is something to look forward too in Spring. 

September

 I think most people will remember this September for the contrast in weather, a very warm first half with the later days noticeably wetter! The drier weather was fortunate as we had Heritage Open Days on two consecutive Saturdays, the church was open with tours of the bell tower and other items out for display and perusal. Visitor numbers were encouraging with many people taking the opportunity to look around the churchyard including the recently uncovered Braddock Memorial.

September is the time to start clearing away plants that are dying back and whilst the soil is warm split up and move plants giving them a chance to establish in the warmer soil before Winter arrives. Around the Braddock Memorial is now very tidy and has been planted up with shade and drought tolerant plants whilst they will naturally die back this Autumn hopefully they will have put roots down and will reappear in Spring. We have also cleared away unwanted grass around an old tree stump and planted that area up. Thank you to the volunteers who have put a lot of effort into this. 

Uncovering The Past part 2

 

Finally after carefully cutting away and removing years of growth the inscription on the gravestone could be read and the design detail around the top be clearly seen. It matches the blank stone to the right.

The name at the top of the stone is Thomas Braddock, a local man who's occupation was metal turner, a person who literally kept the wheels of the mill turning being able to maintain and repair the machinery. His wife is also buried here, Mary Dewsnap who Pre deceased him. Also their daughter Charlotte who died in infancy and son Thomas who died aged 25. Also on the stone are commemorated Alfred, Ruth and Ellen although they are not buried here. 

Alfred, Ruth and Ellen emigrated to New Orleans. Alfred sadly passing away within a relatively short time in 1852. Ruth and Ellen both married local men from New Orleans, Ruth returning to England with her husband to live in Glossop. Ellen stayed on in New Orleans owning and running a Haberdashery shop. She would have lived through the American Civil War before passing away at the age of 74. Ellen as with Alfred is buried in New Orleans.

This is indeed a interesting story of a local family, more information can be found by visiting All Saints and reading one of the laminate sheets we have about this.

Uncovering The Past part 1

 All Saints Churchyard is a wonderful green space surrounding the Church building. A space with with a variety of wildflowers, insects and birds, it also has a number of monuments and gravestones, I have mentioned a couple of the notable memorials on previous posts. When we are working the Churchyard these memorials are a reminder of of the past, our shared past where people lived, raised families and faced the difficulties of the time, for example reading many of the inscriptions makes one aware of the high rate of infant and child mortality. From time to time when clearing and sweeping a gravestone we come across one that is buried under years of leaf mold. Clearing the surface of one such stone only lightly covered we came across the edge of another completely buried. Slowly carefully we are clearing the surface, it is beautifully decorated with a very detailed inscription. Tantalisingly a date 1877 and the words 'New Orleans' clearly readable among the visible script. It is very exciting to get this glimpse into the past and reveal something that has been hidden for so many years. 

In my next post hopefully we have cleared it and be able to give more details. 

June

 

June has been very dry and hot! The plants have struggled in some areas and have required watering we are very fortunate that local people have helped us with this. Also we have had the community payback team working in the churchyard and they have done a really good job clearing around overgrown graves and weeding the flagged path. Elsewhere we have finally finished clearing a stretch of the lovely stone wall opposite the South Porch. This North facing wall is very dry at the base but will provide a lovely backdrop to plants that can tolerate those conditions, in the same area a butterfly house and open fronted nest box have been put up both made from recycled ocean plastic. Also making the most of this dry spell we finished painting the Joseph Hauge Memorial picking out the finials in antique gold.

No mow May

 May now linked with the phrase 'no mow May' as councils, organisations and individuals leave areas of grass to grow. Interesting not least to observe the other plants that emerge with the grass and likewise the insects taking the opportunity to make the most of the wildflowers. One of our successes has been the establishing of Alliums in a grass area near the top of the path to Church Street South. The purple flower heads are stunning and bees are busy visiting them, lovely to observe in the dappled sunshine under the tree canopy. Finally I cannot let this months entry go without mentioning the lovely Hawthorn tree in the old churchyard, the sheer amount of blossom is stunning and a joy to behold.

 

April

 It may seem obvious but working outside you do notice the changing season the warmer days are on the way and there is an awakening, a gradual emergence of new growth with that zing of fresh green and non more so than the lovely wild plants we have been generously gifted from from a friend's vegetable plot,most of these have been planted and hopefully when established will self seed in the grass area to the left of the path. Also we are still busy removing sycamore seedlings by the bucketful. As a contrast to unwanted seedlings our Yellow Rattle sown last Autumn is doing well and establishing in our trial patch if this works by the end of the season we can harvest some of the seed and establish another area. 

Sycamore seedlings and Alliums

 

Today is the last day of March 2023, February was quite dry and March has certainly redressed the balance and has been very wet something you really atune to working outside. Despite the odd damp Saturday morning work has continued planting up where we can, last Autumn we potted up quite a number of various Allium varieties overwintering them outside in a cold frame, these have now been planted up next to the top of the path leading to Church Street South and if the foliage is anything to go by we should be in for a spectacular display in a month or so. 

Whilst working in the churchyard we have been struck by the overabundance of Sycamore seedlings, there are literally hundreds of them in the grass and every nook and cranny. This is a fair indication that last year was a 'mast' year where a tree puts a huge amount of energy into seed production, 2020 was a mast year for our native Oak according to The Woodland Trust so it would appear 2022 was a similar year for Sycamore. 

February

 February is not my favourite month, Winter always seems reluctant to release its grip however the mornings are slowly getting lighter earlier and buds are appearing on bushes etc. On the plus side the snowdrops in the churchyard are quite frankly

stunning. Lovely clumps of fresh green leaves and crisp white bells of flowers, a real treasure on any day be it bright or dull. On the maintenance and gardening side of things we continue tidying and planting, over sixty bluebells in the green have been planted in a freshly prepared area at the top of the Churchyard, the new dead hedge is finished and a composting area has been  created to pile up our jute bags of collected dead leaves. There is a sense of satisfaction in tidying and organising in an ecologically considerate way. 

January

 January ia a good time for tidying and we have a few piles of material branches etc from cutting back plus a donation from Old Glossop Community of their village Christmas tree. One of our team suggested another dead hedge in a location that would provide a screened off area and additional habitat, the original hedge is a success as birds have been observed foraging presumably for insects living in there. The new hedge sits on a framework of poles built on a curve, not quite finished yet but we have the material to complete it. On a different note before the nesting season gets underway we decided to check on the birdboxes constructed and sited the previous year. We were delighted to find that on careful inspection each box exhibited evidence of having been occupied. Very encouraging to find that all the new habitats are in use.