Friends of St Augustine's Penarth, Wales

Churchyard

The churchyard is large (in excess of 1 acre) and completely surrounds the church building.  It is now full and many of the old tombs and gravestones are decaying.  The slope of the land, the decaying and broken gravestones and the brambles and shrubs now growing there make this interesting churchyard difficult to maintain.

The Friends of St Augustine’s, with the agreement of the Rector and the PCC, applied for, and were awarded, a grant from Environment Wales to commission a survey of the flora and fauna in the churchyard.  The survey included advice on the suitability of the site as an area of public green space where continued use by wildlife could be accommodated along with use by the local community. This will be a resource to encourage understanding of wildlife and biodiversity.

As well as being an important environmental area, the churchyard is of great historical interest with the graves of Joseph Parry and many prominent local families including SA Brain of Brains Brewery.

A steering group has now been set up to lead this interesting project.