Buckland Memorial Meadow - A green cemetery

About 7 or 8 years ago the Parish Council purchased the field at the rear of the cemetery in order to safeguard future expansion. Not all of the field was needed and a large part was eventually sold by tender. Two areas were retained one adjacent to the access road from Cross Park . This will be let for grazing for quite a number of years to come for there is still quite a bit of space left for burials in the cemetery.

The smaller area now known Buckland Memorial Meadow is next to the footpath leading to the Garden House just behind the church and next to the cemetery. It can be reached by walking long the footpath that skirts the church yard boundary wall or from the car park at the rear of the cemetery

Management of the meadow

The meadow, forms part of a very much larger field that, was originally pasture land and grazed for many years by cattle. The Buckland Monachorum Parish Council intend to permanently manage the area as a natural wildflower meadow. This will entail cutting the grass once or twice a year to keep under control the strong meadow grasses that can smother the less hardy and more delicate grasses and wildflowers. The grass has already been cut on many occasions, overhanging branches cut, wildflower seed sown and trees planted around the edge. Recently we sowed common rattle which is a pretty yellow herb that is parasitic on grass. This will weaken further the strong grasses and later we will be able to sow a mixture of wildflower seed that won’t be crowded out quite so much. Our management to date seems to be working for if you have a walk through the meadow you will see quite a large number of finer grasses and flowers.

The old netting fence which borders the public footpath is soon to be replaced and benches placed in the meadow to which there will be access by the footpath that now meanders through the meadow.

The trees that have been planted will be allowed to grow to their natural shape to enclose the meadow. While they are growing we will keep them weeded. We do not intend to plant any more trees but any damaged or diseased trees will be replaced The meadow will take a few years to become properly established but eventually we will have a sward of fine meadow grass and flowers visited by butterflies and bees surrounded by a hedge of trees and shrubs for birds to nest in as well as some specimen trees. A vista of the Church is being retained through the hedge of newly planted trees and some benches will be provided.

The Burial and Scattering of Ashes

The principle reason for developing the meadow is to create a natural environment for the scattering and burial of ashes. Unlike the cemetery next door no headstones or flower vases will be allowed. We will however allow a memorial plaque of maximum dimension 6”x 6” laid flush to the surface of the turf to mark the plot. A record of internment and scattering of ashes will be kept in a book held by the Parish Clerk and when ashes are scattered a small plaque can then be placed on one of the memorial seats that will soon be placed in the meadow.

natural meadow