The natural churchyard

The natural churchyard - a peaceful haven

As part of the RURAL ‘Gardens’ series, Cathy Le Feuvre examines a garden by another name - St Clement’s Churchyard

Just a few steps from St Clement’s Churchyard is what looks like a simple meadow. In spring, there’s a glorious daffodil walk which one can amble through at leisure, and in summer that’s replaced with a host of buttercups and then wild grasses. Wildlife abounds along with summer wildflowers, and there are benches for quiet contemplation.

“We started in

the year 2000 when we planted 20 trees and now there’s half a kilometre of hedging running around the site - which is like a bird hotel!

This is a ‘natural churchyard’ which was created a few years ago as space in the main parish graveyard became sparse.

Canon David Shaw, Rector of St Clement, says the opportunity to create Jersey’s first natural churchyard is something a little different and in keeping with the times, as people are becoming more aware of the environment and conservation.

‘We started in the year 2000 when we planted 20 trees and now there’s half a kilometre of hedging running around the site - which is like a bird hotel! This gives us new options, and there are quite a few people who really like the idea, including those who might not have family in Jersey to tend a grave, so they prefer something like this - somewhere beautiful.”

The field has been ‘consecrated’ so it can accommodate full burials, and ashes may be buried in the banks, but there are no headstones, simply posts for memorial plaques.

However, the meadow is more than a peaceful resting place. During the 2020 pandemic when for so many months church congregations could not worship indoors, the meadow became ‘church’. From Father’s Day in June 2020 through to the autumn storms, Canon Shaw and the St Clement’s ministry team hosted church services outdoors, with safe two metre distancing and music on loudspeakers. It became so popular, including with families, that outdoor services may continue going forward. ‘Another thing that was lovely during lockdown was that I did several funeral services up here,’ Canon Shaw says.

‘In fact, I did two or three where the funeral was happening in England and no one could get there so we would sit here, just a few of us, the family, just a very small number because we weren’t allowed many people at that time, just sitting on the benches, the birds singing.’

“Unlike any other

churchyard, we’re the only ones who have got full burial and ashes burial in the main churchyard, and now we have the natural meadow and Jersey’s first Columbarium. It just gives people choice

Canon Shaw believes they have created spaces at the St Clement’s Church where memories may be treasured and which provide different and interesting options for those seeking a final resting place.

‘Unlike any other churchyard, we’re the only ones who have got full burial and ashes burial in the main churchyard, and now we have the natural meadow and Jersey’s first Columbarium. It just gives people choice.’