St Mary’s Churchyard

The whole of St Mary’s Churchyerd (apart from the Garden of Remembrance) is now closed, following an order by His Majesty’s Privy Council in Devember 2025. This decision has been made because there is no more room for burials.

The closure means that it is no longer possible to be burried here. There are two exceptions to this: 1) where a reservation has been made prior to closure (we only know of one of those) 2) in the “plot” of a family member where there is room.

Closure also means that maintenance of the parts of the churchyard that were previously the responsibility of the PCC now falls to a local authority. This will happen from 1st April 2026

St Mary’s Church has an enormous churchyard. It falls into two main areas

The Churchyard closed in 1858 – The area immediately around the church. Ross Town Council maintains this area and does a splendid job maintaining it with a dedicated budget and a professionally run team of contractors.

The remainder of the Churchyard closed in December 2025 – The area beyond the track running from the main churchyard gate (from Old Maids Walk / Church Street) has been maintained by St Mary’s Church with the help of a number of groups. It is likely that this area will now be maintained by Herefordshire Council.

We have been working hard on a management plan for this area. You can download that here or read on for the main points.

1.  Churchyard Angels (CA) – Volunteer strimmers and rakers. They have been maintaining areas A. This group is now suspended.
2. The Probation Service (PS) – They attend regularly through the year. They maintain the rest of the space including the Garden of Remembrance, as well as maintenance of trees and paths during the winter months.
3. Garden of Remembrance Volunteer Group (gardening / weeding)
4. Paid help – (currently Alan Sonn)

The work is divided as follows

As part of our Eco Church status (we have a silver award, hoping for gold), areas of the churchyard are covered by a “no-mow” policy during some spring and summer months. This is under review and more detail will follow very soon – watch this space.

CLEARING THE WAY TO GRAVES

We want everyone to be able to visit and tend to the graves of their loved ones, and we will endeavour to do our best to make sure this is possible. If, however you feel this is difficult, they are very willing to make sure the way is clear. Please use the plan below to identify the approximate location and let them know via the form below. They will clear the way as soon as they can. (Please note, we cannot take responsibility for graves themselves.)

Churchyard Regulations (Diocese of Hereford)