Our Churchyard
Our Churchyard is a quiet and tranquil place, and a haven for wild flora and fauna.
For over 40 years, it has been closed for new burial plots, and responsibiity for maintenance now rests with Horsham District Council. We have an arrangement with the Council’s contractors that certain areas are regularly strimmed, while other parts are deliberately kept in a ‘wilder’ state to encourage the rich diversity of nature. We recognise that not everybody likes to see this sort of growth of vegetation, so if there is a particular plot that relatives etc want to visit regularly, they may contact the parish office and our volunteer Churchyard team will keep a pathway open.
Our volunteer team meets regularly, usually on one or two Wednesdays per month and other times by arrangement, to keep the paths clear, control weed growth, and carry out surveys of plant and insect habitats. We are always looking for additional help – please get in touch with the churchwardens if you can help.
The abundance of wildlife, and our efforts in preserving this, have contributed to the award to St Andrew’s and St Cuthman’s of a Silver Eco Church plaque by conservation organisation A Rocha.
Graveyard Gossips
Several of those interred in our churchyard have stories to tell. Our frends at Steyning Museum have put togther an audio tour of some interesting graves, including those of a smuggler, a suffragette and several soldiers. You need a smartphone with the Echoes app. Find out more at this page on the museum website. Leaflets about some of our ‘residents’ are available in church.
Churchyard News
Beauty springs to life
May 2025
These are but a few flowers found within our Churchyard, that have burst into life during April 2025.
Much more to follow throughout May. Watch out for more photographs shortly, or take a stroll within our Churchyard and see what you can spot.
Simon Knowles
Eco Church – Managing the Churchyard
March 2025
St Andrew’s and St Cuthman’s church participates in the Eco Church scheme. As at December 2024, there were over 8,000 other participating churches in England and Wales.
The scheme is run by A Rocha UK which is a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches to care for the environment. The Eco Church scheme aims to help churches to undertake this calling by providing a framework to support a church and its leadership to take practical action on caring for God’s earth by using the Eco Church survey.
The survey covers five key areas of church life:
- Worship and teaching
- Buildings and energy
- Land and nature
- Community and global engagement
- Lifestyle
On achieving the relevant standard, a church can apply for the Eco Church award at bronze, silver or gold level. We can congratulate ourselves on achieving the silver award, with thanks to Christine Aubrey for her efforts in getting us there.
One of the five areas to survey is land and nature. We are fortunate in having a lovely churchyard and a group of enthusiastic volunteers led by Simon Knowles, who work in the churchyard on a regular basis.
So, what does the land and nature survey look for in a churchyard? A church needs to have a plan that recognises the ‘significant contribution churches can make to the UK’s target of 30% of land protected for nature by 2030’.
Another Christian charity, Caring for God’s Acre, points out that a churchyard can be the most ancient enclosed land in a parish, maybe dating back even to pre-Christian times. Apart from the grave digging, the grassland will be relatively undisturbed, perhaps with the wildflowers re-seeding over centuries or even longer. Old undisturbed land and unimproved grassland is now becoming rare in the UK and the diversity of grasses and flowers found in a churchyard can be important habitats for insects and other animals.
Although in Steyning we are lucky to be surrounded by beautiful countryside, we have to remember that generally speaking large areas of our country are being built on, concreted over and artificial grass is becoming increasingly popular, so any areas managed for nature have an important role to play.
One of the main themes in the land and nature survey is encouraging biodiversity. This means having as many mini-habitats as possible. So having grass of different lengths, leaving some areas ‘untidy’, building log piles and having small areas of things like nettles and brambles which are important for a range of insects and birds all help. Installing bird boxes, bat boxes and other means to encourage wildlife into the churchyard are encouraged as are monitoring the wildlife through regular surveys. All of this in the context of respecting the graves, access to the churchyard and the overall aesthetics.
Other things to consider when seeding or planting flowers or shrubs would be using native plants which are generally better for insects. We should also use peat-free products, not using synthetic herbicides or pesticides to promote and maintain soil health.
Eco Church is strongly supported by the Church of England; however, it is important to recognise that people will have different ideas on how a churchyard should look and be managed. What is beautiful to one person might look like an untidy mess to someone else. So we will do our best to please everyone whilst keeping to Eco Church principles.
David Littlejohns
Where have all the flowers gone?
February 2025
Praise must go to our wonderful flower arrangers, for their beautiful Christmas displays around the Church. Such care is taken to lighten our Church with different ideas each year. Thank you to all the flower arrangers.
But when it comes to taking everything down, does it all just go in a bin? Well, this year it has been taken round to the Abbey Road conservation area and added to the ‘dead hedge’ that is currently under construction.This ‘dead hedge’ will aid all kinds of wildlife, adding a different habitat to an already bustling wildlife area. Thanks must go to Roger Brown and Simon Alexander, one of our local Councillors, for the work on the Abbey Road site, all done by local residents.
Simon Knowles
Changes in the Churchyard
February 2025
Before I explain a few of the churchyard plans that are beginning to happen this year, I would like to thank, on behalf of us all, Roger Brown, for his work within our churchyard over so many years. Roger has also overseen our recent application to Horsham DC, for work on 13 different trees. Roger will carry on with flora, butterfly and fauna surveys and send the results to the Management Team. Thank you Roger.
After Roger began his work on his specialist projects, I was asked to take on the job of carrying on with all the good work done in our churchyard. Luckily, there are a wonderful group of individuals who want to help breathe new life into the Churchyard, as well as maintain what’s there.
Over the next two to three years, you will start to see aspects of the churchyard change. Please do not worry about the changes, as they are needed in order to make life easier for gardeners in 20 to 30 years’ time.
We have started by cutting back the bramble and ivy to the Church Lane side, uncovering approximately eight of the graves previously covered. Nearly all the ‘brash’ (bramble and trash) stored behind these headstones has been removed and added to a new ‘dead hedge’ in Gatewick House. For this I must thank Guy Sanderson, the new owner, who was only too willing to help us out.
Major works on individual trees and clumps of various flora will take place gradually, but must be finished within the planning permission of two years. These works will bring more light into the churchyard, make life easier for maintenance and produce different vistas across our beautiful grounds.
Here are some pictures showing what it looked like in January. But, there’s regular progress, and it’s only the beginning.
Simon Knowles