A project to reveal the hidden heritage and wildlife of burial grounds across England and Wales has secured more than £580,000 in lottery funding.
The Beautiful Burial Ground scheme will record and map historic buildings and monuments and species found in churchyards and cemeteries, to encourage more people to visit them and help secure their future.
Undisturbed grassland found in burial grounds is often rich in wildflowers and meadow grasses, which support wildlife ranging from frogs to butterflies and voles.
Gravestones are also a key site for lichen, with 700 of the 2,000 British species found in churchyards and almost half of them rarely found elsewhere.
As well as providing refuges for nature, they also illustrate the history of the community they are in, the conservation charity behind the scheme, Caring for God’s Acre, said.
But most burial grounds are under-recorded and relatively unknown, the charity said.
The £586,700 National Lottery grant will help create a database with an interactive map for individual burial sites and what is in them.
The scheme will encourage volunteers to engage in “citizen science” by helping to survey for wildlife such as flowers and bats, and record built heritage ranging from memorials to boundary walls and preaching crosses.
The Beautiful Burial Ground project, which will work with dozens of wildlife, heritage and church groups, will run events and workshops and provide online films and information to help people look after their local site.
Harriet Carty, director of Caring for God’s Acre, said: “There are few places to rival the range of interest present within churchyards, cemeteries and chapel yards.
“They illustrate the history of the community they serve; the migrations and immigrations, the changes in style and fashion of architecture and monumental masonry.
“They are also hotspots for biodiversity, giving us a glimpse of the ecological richness of the past, whilst providing refuges for wildlife now and in the future.”
Ros Kerslake, chief executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: ‘We are delighted to award this grant to the Beautiful Burial Grounds project.
“Our burial grounds are truly precious community spaces; now this project will allow visitors to appreciate their unique wildlife and history, as well as the calm, reflective atmosphere they provide.”
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