The general concensus of opinion is that churchyards began as circular shapes, with the church central for ease of navigation. Also, many churches were established on sites which had previously been pagan and these were often round, although not necessarily former burial places but most probably places associated with religious ceremonies.
With regard to burials, there has always been a strong preference to be buried on the south side. In the 18th century and earlier, the north side was reserved for unbaptized infants, criminals, suicides and those considered to be 'undesirables'. The reasoning behind this stems back to medieval times when congregations believed that the Devil existed in the churchyard, especially in the north side. Despite the passage of several hundred years, it is still apparent today that there are fewer burials on the north side of a churchyard.
It is obvious from the visits we are making to churchyards that some have been cleared to make them easier to maintain. However, whether this is a recent practice is, to some extent, open to debate, because there is evidence to suggest that this practice was widespread as far back as the 1950's. There is emphasis today on using churchyards as 'nature reserves' so this could explain why, in contrast to the neatly mown grass, many older areas of churchyards are overgrown (the photographs at Queen Street, Walsall are a good example). The majority of people we have spoken to consider the clearance of churchyards and headstones to be a fairly recent activity. Also, a lot of people believe that churchyards are being deliberately neglected. There is a very fine line between 'neglect' and 'semi-natural grassland'. We are therefore hoping to clarify this point with our own research.
We would be glad to hear your comments. Do get in touch.
