St Lawrence Churchyard
A LIVING CHURCHYARD
We want our churchyard to be a 'living churchyard'. This doesn't mean that we just let it grow wild - each area is properly managed to encourage different flowers, butterflies, moths and birds.
Some areas of grass are not mown during the summer months - this has enabled a Pyramidal orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis and various wild flowers to grow for the last few years. This also allows caterpillars that feed on the wildflowers and grasses time to pupate. In this way we are trying to conserve and encourage as diverse a range of wildflowers as possible.
There are over one hundred species of wild flowers living here, not to mention grasses, trees, lichens, mosses, fungi and all the living creatures that depend on them. This diversity of wildlife is possible because of the history of the churchyard - it has not been cultivated nor has it been sprayed with herbicides or fertilisers. The church walls and headstones provide the conditions needed by slow-growing lichens, many of which are only found in churchyards in this part of the country.
It is not a nature reserve - we aim to achieve a balance between conserving wildlife and maintaining the churchyard as a fit setting for the church. If you would like to help us maintain the churchyard, a working party meets regularly each month, usually on the 1st Saturday of the month, from 9.30 am onwards, with a break around 11.00 am for some refreshment. The date of the next working party is usually advertised in the noticeboard alongside the footpath to the north of the church.
If you visit please look around and let us know if you see anything unusual or interesting. We would also welcome any comments, questions or suggestions.
Please click on the appropriate word below to see lists of what has been seen in the churchyard.
PLANT NAMES
BIRDS
BUTTERFLIES
MOTHS
LICHENS
The Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust has produced a pamphlet about churchyards which you can read by clicking here.
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The coming week...
Monday 24th July
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Larence
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
7.45 pm Ringers' practice in St Lawrence tower
Tuesday 25th July
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Lawrence
10.15 am Tuesday Coffee in the Breakspear Room, St Lawrence
10.30 am Home Communion at Margaret House
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
Wednesday 26th July
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Lawrence
10.15 am Holy Communion in St Lawrence
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
7.45 pm Choir practice in St Lawrence
8.00 pm Bereavement Visitors meet in the Methodist small hall
Thursday 27th July
8.15 am Early Prayer for the parish and community in St Lawrence
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Lawrence
3.20 pm Funeral of Janet Roberts at the Crematorium
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
7.00 Wedding rehearsal in St Lawrence
8.00 pm Wedding rehearsal in St Lawrence
Friday 28th July
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Lawrence
10.00 am Craft Group in Bedmond Church
10.00 am AHAL Coffee in the Henderson Hub, Abbots Langley High Street
12.00 noon Bell Toll for WW1 soldier William Herbert Tippetts
2.00 pm Craft and Conversation in the Breakspear Room, St Lawrence
3.00 pm Funeral of Julie Lockyer in Bedmond Church followed by Cremation
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
Saturday 29th July
9.30 am Churchyard Working Party at Bedmond
2.00 pm Wedding of James Christianson and Emma Lowrie
4.00 pm Wedding of Anthony Brundritt and Stacie Lyle
Sunday 30th July - the Seventh Sunday after Trinity
8.00 am Holy Communion in St Lawrence
9.30 am Parish Communion with Seekers and Creche in St Lawrence
6.30 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
Monday 31st July
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Lawrence
12.00 noon Bell Toll for WW1 soldiers Percy Coleman and William Leslie Jerram
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
7.00 pm Battle of Passchendaele Commemoration Service at the War Memorial organised by the Royal British Legion
7.45 pm Ringers' practice in St Lawrence tower
Tuesday 1st August
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Lawrence
10.15 am Tuesday Cofee in the Breakspear Room, St Lawrence
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence
Wednesday 2nd August
9.30 am Morning Prayer in St Lawrence
10.00 am Coffee Morning in Bedmond Church
10.15 am Holy Communion in St Lawrence
5.15 pm Evening Prayer in St Lawrence