In Praise of Walls

I’ve admired artist Outside Authority’s (www.outsideauthor.wordpress.com) lyrical renderings of UK churches and churchyards for some time. It’s stimulating to see a similar devotion to these spaces reflected in this Guardian article.

Wildflowers among the graves at St Pancras church, Plymouth. Less frequent mowing of grass in churchyards improves biodiversity enormously.

“Eight hundred years ago, pagan sites – springs, wells or woodland glades – had Christian churches built on top of them… Around the church is an area – the litten – where people are buried. A couple of hundred years later, somebody decided that all churches should have a wall placed around them. Since then, they’ve never been ploughed, treated with chemicals or anything like that. So you have this amazing genetic bank, which originated in whatever that habitat was 800 years ago, just sat there – and it’s still there.”
David Curry of the “Living Churchyards” project

An old yew at the entrance to St Pancras church, Plymouth.

(Alexander Turner, “God’s own gardens: why churchyards are some of our wildest nature sites,” theguardian.com, 5-6-22)

About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

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2 Responses to In Praise of Walls

outsideauthority says:

May 8, 2022 at 5:01 pm

Thank you for unearthing this old fossil (the painting)! From my frequent trips, I can confirm more and more graveyards are at least leaving certain designated areas untended. This churchyard looks nice, but a little too far away for me.

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- JMN says:
  
  May 8, 2022 at 5:23 pm
  
  Thanks for indulging my use of your work, OA. There is so much to choose from in it. Plymouth may be far, but you’re doing your neck of woods proud.
  
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