Widworthy and Wilmington – Report

The church is tucked away from the main village of Wilmington and is adjacent to Widworthy Barton in a fine countryside location. Entry is via a tiled lychgate from a mainly grassy slope that could provide wheelchair access. The hard surface beneath the tiled roof contained a very nice ‘pebbled’ area. There was no welcome sign or notice board with the name of the church. Two small iron gates permitted access to the churchyard. These were painted and in reasonable condition.

The entire churchyard grass areas were ‘manicured’ at the time of our visit and the volunteer team were busy strimming any stray blades along the boundary edges. Mature trees including yew provided an overhead canopy, although we did not see any birds (possibly due to the strimming activity) or bird boxes.

Approach to the church was by a hard surface path with the tightly mown grass on either side. On the right is a single iron railing (nicely painted) and against the far wall backing onto the Barton is an interesting modern gravestone with some historical facts about the relatively recent owners, Lady Alison and Tom Kremer. To the left was a recently constructed small, circular rose garden with some old and broken gravestone pieces laid flat and neatly incorporated in the retaining dwarf wall.

A bench was provided and we noted a management plan. Inside the porch are two wooden bench seats, coat hooks and a notice board. Outside a waste bin, dog bowl, water butt and watering can have been provided as well as another bench.

There was a noticeable absence of ‘wild areas’, or differing levels of cut grass. Consequently, very few wild flowers were in bloom although close inspection of the sward at most points revealed evidence of earlier flowering plants amongst the very short grass.

A garden shed was located out of general view with a constructed compost area alongside, plus some small logs that had been left to decay although no purpose-built insect ‘hotel’, hedgehog home or bat boxes were seen.

The boundaries are partly walled, partly enclosed with laid, mainly laurel hedges and some have nicely painted iron railings with a metal kissing gate to an adjoining field (which was locked). Another bin was provided for vegetation collected from around graves.

A large grassy mound separates part of the burial area which contains lichen covered old as well as more modern memorial stones plus commemoration plaques where ashes have been laid. A set of concrete steps provides ease of access to this part of the churchyard.

This is a very well-maintained churchyard with almost immaculate grass. As with many of Devon’s churchyards it is probably at its best when the spring flowers are in bloom.