Churchyard Conservation Management Team
The Churchyard Conservation Group started in March 2021 as a development of ASK Friends, with approval from the PCC at their meeting 23rd March 2021.
Kenton Churchyard Conservation Management May 2021
Management Team:
John Perkins, Cliff Tubb, Ann Roberts and Liz Hicks
This churchyard is now being managed according to the guidelines set out by “Caring for God’s Own Acre”.
We will be working under the umbrella of ASK Friends and with the PCC, Parish Council and Teignbridge Council.
Our aim is to develop a conservation strategy to promote a rich diversity of wildlife, while making the churchyard a welcoming place for humans too.
This churchyard already has a wealth of flora and fauna including many wildflowers, butterflies, natural bee colonies as well as hundreds of solitary bees, and nesting birds including swifts, starlings, bluetits and jackdaws. All lichen on the gravestones will be preserved.
The first change we are making is the way the grass will be cut. Only the area around the west porch will be kept short by strimming. Two paths will also be kept cut short from the south door around to the east side, and another through the wooded area to the north side. The rest of the grass will be cut twice a year to 4”, timed strategically to optimise wildflower reseeding (probably July and September). In the meantime, the grass will look longer than previously and possibly a little unkempt. This is deliberate. In time the volume of wildflowers will increase, from Spring through to the Autumn.
The cut grass will be raked and composted. Removing the cut grass reduces the fertility of the soil to slow down grass growth which will enable more wildflowers to grow. Compost will encourage the appearance of slowworms.
If you have any questions regarding the management of the churchyard, please contact John Perkins 01626 890452.