Working with the local community - Report on the burial ground at St Mary's Church in Bloxham, Oxfordshire
The village of Bloxham urgently needs to find more burial space.
There is land available at the rear of the churchyard but part of it is a former quarry and there are two mature Giant Redwood and Walnut trees that are protected within the Conservation Area.
We offered our voluntary service to the Vicar of St Mary’s and prepared a report identifying the various issues and constraints. As the site has been left unmanaged for a number of years a huge community effort will be needed to bring the spare land into proper use.
It also supports a thriving ground cover of spring and summer wild flowers and provides a haven for bees and butterflies. The next stage of detailed design work will therefore present a difficult task, trying to please those who prefer a degree of formality with rose gardens and box hedges, and those who would rather see graves and memorials set within wildflower meadows and bluebell woods.
