St James's churchyard recently won a Wildlife Trusts Bronze Award, through the Northants Churchyard Conservation SchemeWildlife of the month nature notes: May 24 - Dandelions June 24 - Swifts October 24 - Horse chestnuts and conkers November 24 - Poppies December 24 - Holly Our surveys and plans Our wild churchyard - some background, maps and lists - this includes surveys of plants and animals in the churchyard Our Biodiversity Plan, 24-25 - our wildlife priorities for the coming year Churchyard questionnaire - please have your say of how we can improve the churchyard for all usersExternal useful sites: God's Acre website Church of England's advice on wildlife in the churchyardPosters (that have been up in the church) about: Bats - we have several species of bats flying around the chiurchyard, along with our own colony of soprano pipstrelles in the porch. Wild flowers - Flower Festival poster - June 2024. Around 100 species of wild flowering plants, grasses and trees have been recorded in the churchyard Moths - a summary from 2023 and list of macromoths identified No-mow May 2024 Beavers in the churchyard - the Beavers helped survey churchyard wildlife using camera traps to find out what was in the churchyard after the gates had shut Some background to our churchyard wildlife
Download the attached pdf document for a more complete guide to the church and the churchyard, along with some hyperlinked resources.Gretton’s oldest church, St James the Great, is a Grade 1-listed building on the northern edge of the old Rockingham Forest. It sits atop a limestone ridge overlooking the River Welland. Much of the church was renovated in 1893, but evidence of a much older church can be readily seen. According to the Domesday Book, the royal manor of Gretton (Gretone) comprised over 20 households, and was worth around £20, its economy based on farming – arable and grazing - and a mill. The oldest part of today’s church is the Norman nave, built very early in the 12th Century, with extensions to create the north and south aisles constructed only a few decades later. If you stand in the current nave and look above the arches on both sides you can still see the remains of some of the original windows embedded in the walls. Despite later modifications (for example raising the chancel floor in the 18th Century in order to put in a vaulted roof over a crypt for the Hatton family, and extensive 19th Century restoration) a mediaeval wall painting can still be made out next to the grand window at the east end of the 14th century chancel.Most of the church is built from local limestone rubble, often rendered, but the 15th century tower was built into the west end of the church from ironstone blocks, and linked to the nave by a, then new, arch. The tower is said to be the tallest church tower in Northamptonshire There are many C17 and later memorials in the chancel, for example to Leigh and Henry Clarke (1657 and 1664), the ‘Ladies Hatton’ (1684) and various other members of the Hatton family, who owned nearby Kirby Hall.Walking around the churchyard, there are fantastic views across the Welland valley, with ridge and furrow fields and mediaeval remains, including fishponds and rabbit warrens. Within the chuchyard, which is carefully maintained to be a haven for wildlife, there are historic graves and plenty of places to sit, pray and contemplate both human and natural history.Download a rather longer guideto the church, churchyard and the role of ST James's in the history of the village here.
