Over the last weeks, the Cherishing Sidmouth’s Cemeteries social media pages have been looking at how other cemeteries have been dealing with invasive long grass – some more successfully than others: Managed sensitively, this lovely old meadow grassland can enhance the burial site for visitors, […]
Trialing yellow rattle in cemeteries and churchyards
Of late, there has been discussion amongst members of the Cherishing Sidmouth’s Cemeteries working party about carrying out a controlled trial of yellow rattle. This is often used to suppress the growth of grass – which it can do effectively, but it has to be […]
Planting woodland bulbs at the Cemetery
Sidbury and Sidmouth cemeteries are basically sited on former meadowland – and something the Cherishing Sidmouth’s Cemeteries project would like to see would be enabling the dormant meadow flowers to flourish through careful management of the dominant grass. There are other notable areas – such […]
Replacing invasives with insect-friendly plants at the Cemetery
One of the main projects at Sidmouth Cemetery is to increase the biodiversity on the site – and in early spring the Sidmouth Scouts lent a hand in cutting back the very invasive bramble which keep pretty much everything else out. In early summer (and […]
History and heritage at the Sid Valley’s graveyards
The Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries project is very much about marrying ‘the human and the natural’ – both the manmade history and the natural history of these special sites in the Sid Valley. It’s about nature: Cemeteries can be a haven for nature and wildlife as […]
The Management Plan for Sidmouth Cemetery still isn’t working
The charity Caring For God’s Acre is keen to celebrate wildlife in our churchyards. Ed Dolphin put together a report on the excellent survey work carried out in the Sid Valley in mid June: Beautiful Burial Grounds and Count On Nature Week have come together, […]
High grass does not equate to high biodiversity
The Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries project was set up, largely because it was felt that the Management Plan for Sidmouth Cemetery isn’t working – as commented late last year, “it has been disastrous, whether you are looking for a wildlife haven or a tidy resting place where families can visit […]
Biodiversity in the parish churchyard
The Devonshire Association likes to visit cemeteries – for example, a visit last year to Plymouth Orthodox Synagogue and its cemetery. The Botany Section is also interested in cemeteries – and also last year it organised a field trip to The Knapp Nature Reserve, Sidmouth – which it noted […]
Starting to uncover family graves in the Cemetery
Sidmouth Cemetery has several graves of members of ‘an important Sidmouth family’ – with its own page on the Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries website: The Cole family – Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries Including a Major General in the Indian service: History of the GRAY and Other Families […]
Maytime 2024 newsletter
A lot seems to be happening at Sidmouth Cemetery… Next Thursday morning, Ed Dolphin of the Arboretum will be offering a guided tour of the trees, both native and exotic: A guided tree walk around the Cemetery: 16th May – Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries That’s because […]