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.