Cemeteries and churchyards make a significant contribution to the provision of urban green space in London, sometimes providing a sanctuary for wildlife in urban areas devoid of greenspace. Although many have restricted access they still provide a useful resource for the local community, particularly within inner London Boroughs.

A wide variety of habitats can be found in Greater London’s cemeteries. This is demonstrated by St Pancras and Islington Cemetery in Barnet, which supports areas of neutral grassland, wetland, scrub and secondary woodland. Due to the antiquity of many churchyards and cemeteries they can support habitats which are relics of former countryside and may, therefore, support a range of rare or uncommon plant species. The only known London site for green-winged orchid Orchis morio, for example, is Morden Cemetery in Merton. Other more commonly occurring plants, which are indicative of the countryside within which many of these cemeteries were formerly located, include cuckoo-flower Cardamine pratense, harebell Campanula rotundifolia and crested dog’s-tail Cynosorus cristatus.

The older cemeteries, in common with mature suburban gardens, often support animal species that are essentially species of open woodland or woodland edge. These include spotted flycatcher, song thrush, tawny owl and stag beetle. Holly blue, gatekeeper and speckled wood butterflies often occur, as well as most of the commoner species that occur in our parks and gardens.

Apart from a few unusually large sites, churchyards tend to have a more limited diversity of habitats – mature trees and small areas of grassland (occasionally quite species rich) being the main features of interest. Yew Taxus baccata and ivy Hedera helix are frequent components of the churchyard flora. In addition, churchyard walls, monuments and gravestones may support unusual plant communities with species such as hart’s-tongue fern Phyllitis scolopendrium, wall rue Asplenium ruta-muralis, pellitory-of-the-wall Parietaria judaica and various lichens and other lower plants. The church buildings themselves may also be of special nature conservation interest if they contain bat roosts.

Isolated cemeteries and churchyards can provide sheltered habitat in spring and autumn for migrant birds, providing an important link in the network of open space that provides these species with temporary refugia. Within central London, churchyards are often among the few areas of greenspace where the local community is able to have some contact with the natural world.

Threats
While churchyard/cemetery status confers protection from certain forms of development, loss of existing habitat may occur as a result of increasing pressure for burial space. Twenty one of the thirty eight cemeteries with recognised nature conservation value in London have been identified as sites for potential re-use (Bailey 1998). The notable nature conservation value of these sites is often due to their antiquity and the current laws preventing the disturbance of human remains. Re-use could result in the loss of the tree and scrub cover that has developed over many of these older cemetery sites.

The responsibility for management of many cemetery sites has been given to various local authority departments who are often ill-equipped to advise on ecological management, or are reluctant to accept nature conservation value. In an attempt to avoid affronting the perceived sensitivities of relatives of the interred, most land management in operational cemeteries is aimed at maintaining a well-ordered, ‘tidy’ appearance which limits the opportunities for biodiversity conservation and enhancement.

Opportunities
In London, there is considerable potential for increasing the nature conservation value of many of the extensive cemetery sites. Simple measures such as a reduction in mowing frequency where the sward is species-rich, or tree and shrub planting where existing habitat is of low value would do much to increase their ecological value. Placing bird and bat boxes in sites with trees would provide a very public indication of support for biodiversity conservation. The growing interest in ‘green burials’ may also create an opportunity to incorporate enhancement or creation of wildlife habitat within existing or newly created cemeteries.

By recognising the existing and potential value of cemeteries and churchyards these sites can provide an educational resource which encompasses biodiversity, history and other disciplines. For example, the relic flora of the site, in addition to dates on headstones, can provide evidence as to the history of the site. Lichens on walls and monuments can be related to air quality.

Although perceived as a threat to existing habitats within cemeteries, re-use could provide an opportunity to create new habitats or restore open habitats which have been lost to scrub or secondary woodland. Indeed a London Planning Advisory Committee report, ‘Burial Space Needs in London’, specifically refers to the need to conserve biodiversity within any re-use strategy. Sites such Tower Hamlets, Abney Park and Highgate Cemeteries demonstrate the potential for incorporating biodiversity objectives into the management of cemeteries and churchyards.

Data on the distribution and extent of cemeteries came from the London Advisory Planning Committee’s (LPAC) Report ‘Burial Space Needs In London’ (1997). The report contains the most comprehensive audit of London’s cemeteries to date, although not all cemeteries responded to the survey. A full audit of churchyards was not possible as the data is not yet available. The figures provided in this ‘preliminary’ audit represent the churchyard resource with the Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation identified by the London Ecology Unit (LEU). This is not a definitive representation of Greater London’s churchyard resource.

The list includes churchyards of nature conservation importance for most boroughs (those with LEU handbooks/schedules). The data for these sites was collected from a database at the Unit and checked against each borough handbook and schedule. No churchyards are listed for boroughs that are not members of the London Ecology Committee: City of London, Havering, Bromley and Hackney.

Although lists of churches with churchyards are available for approximately half of London there are no available data on the size of these churchyards. There are six Church of England Diocese which cover the Greater London area: London, Rochester, Southwark, Guildford, Chelmsford and St Albans (Table 2). Available lists provide the names of churches without giving their exact locations. The Diocesan handbooks could be used to identify each church and would need to be purchased at a cost of £3-5. The Dioceses of Chelmsford and Southwark do not have a list of churches with churchyards. The Diocesan handbook could be used to contact each parish individually.

Roman Catholic churches in Greater London fall under two Archdiocese (Westminster, Southwark) and a smaller Diocese (Brentford). The structure of the Methodist church in London is based on the boundaries of Greater London with four divisions forming the four quarters of the city; NW, NE and so on. No preliminary research has been carried out for other denominations. However, in context of ecclesiastical land use history these will, perhaps, represent a small resource proportion of the Church of England, Roman Catholic, and Methodist churchyard resource.