St Mary’s Churchyard

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

The Closed Churchyard – The area immediately around the church is now officially “closed” (which means it is full and is no longer in use for burials), maintenance of it has been handed over to Ross Town Council who do a splendid job maintaining it with a dedicated budget and a professionally run team of contractors.

The Open Churchyard – The area beyond the track running from the main churchyard gate (from Old Maids Walk / Church Street) is, at the moment still “open” (though practically full) and is maintained by St Mary’s Church with the help of a number of groups.

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 meet on the first Saturday of each month from April to October. They are going to try to keep on top of areas A, C and D but need more help.
2. The Probation Service (PS) – They attend regularly through the year. They maintain the Garden of Remembrance and have now agreed to take on the whole of area B, 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

The Churchyard Angels, are a team of volunteers who meet on the first Saturday morning of every month (April – October). They do what they can to keep things under control but desperately need more volunteers. If you’d like to join the team please just come along to a session.

For more information please contact us or complete the form below to register your interest.

Register your interest in Churchyard Angels

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 our Churchyard Angels volunteers do their 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)