The churchyard at St Mary Magdalene Church is an important and wonderful space for everyone in both villages to explore, experience and enjoy. It has, arguably, the best views from anywhere in the area… and it’s yours.
The church ensures the active graveyard is maintained, but they don’t have the manpower or finances to manage the old section. The paths leading up through the churchyard were also getting very overgrown. Which is why we are delighted to let you know that the church, working together with Cottingham FROGS (Friends of Green Spaces), has secured £450 of funding from Rockingham Forest Vision (the National Heritage Lottery Fund and the North Northants Rural Community Fund?), as part of the Cottingham Parish Nature Recovery Plan, to start clearing the churchyard.
The work aims to ensure that access to the top of the churchyard is improved for burials and general visitors, and to clear a three metre strip within the fence surrounding the old part of the graveyard.
Substantial areas have now been cleared by SKM Contractors (Steve Morphy), revealing gravestones previously buried by brambles and coarse grass that haven’t been seen for at least a decade! Several important tombs have been released from the undergrowth for visitor access and much of the tall, coarse grass has been strimmed, hopefully giving finer, more attractive flora and wildlife habitat a chance to flourish.
As a result of this work, a village resident has offered an additional donation to complete the strimming of the whole churchyard as a one off project. This generous donation will make a huge difference to the appearance and nature of this area and we are working towards getting that work done over the next few months.