St. John the Evangelist

Coulsdon Parish Church - Old Coulsdon, Surrey

You are at the entrance to the Garden of Remembrance looking in. Turn left for the southern part of the churchyard or right for the building.

At the far side can be seen the Remembrance Boulder near the seat.

With parts of our church building dating back to the 10th Century, this "acre" of land has been a focus of communal life for 1000 years. Within this church countless marriages must have been solemnized and baptisms conducted, and the Word of God has been presented to generation after generation developing the spiritual life of the community. The churchyard has not only been the setting for the building and its activities over the centuries but has also been, until recently, the site for the burial of this community's dead.

Histories of other villages suggest that the church was often established by the lord or squire close to his home and a barn, which became the church building, was a place where the tithes of the community were gathered and stored. It was then more genuinely the focus of communal life and the building and setting were treated with less reverence than in later, more devout ages. It may not have been unusual for the area around the church to be used for a Sunday market or fair. From the formal monuments erected after the Reformation however, we can be sure of the use of the churchyard for burials.

A stroll around the churchyard will reveal our heritage and glimpses of the community's past, evidenced by the headstones and crosses. Whilst the names and dates on some are obvious many carry no such information and their precise age, and of those of the trees and lych gate, can only be estimated and one's own imagination may further enhance that sense of history.

In the late 20th. century, much effort was used in the clearance and removal of undergrowth and superfluous trees and bushes, and in the disposal of maintenance-inhibiting kerbstones enabling the easier mowing of the extensive area of grass around the variety of remaining headstones and monuments. In the 1990s a rationalization of planted areas, the thinning out of bushes and the pruning of trees has not only made easier the overall maintenance of the churchyard but has opened up vistas across it and created spaces around the church which enhance both church and churchyard and produce areas of calm and tranquility.

With no plots remaining, burials have no longer been possible in the churchyard here at St. John's. Although, for those preferring burial, the Local Authority does provide such facilities outside our immediate area, cremation and the Interment of Ashes is now preferred by most. As in many other parishes, this church responded to the changing circumstances and the Interment of Ashes became an expected practice with the added opportunity of placing of engraved memorial tablets in the boundary wall in memory of loved ones.

With so much history evident within the churchyard we have recently set the foundation for a practice which will be as much part of our future heritage as the churchyard has provided in the past. The Interment of Ashes will continue but as a point has been reached where space for placing memorial tablets is no longer available, an alternative for recording a memorial needed to be established. These details are inscribed within the Book of Remembrance in a glazed case at the northern end of the east aisle of the new church and the ashes are now placed in a particular part of the churchyard - the Garden of Remembrance.

The design principles for this Garden were to create a delineated grassed area, being part of an overall improvement scheme for the whole churchyard, easily accessible from the church for services of Interment of Ashes, secure from view, yet safe to rest a while for contemplation and meditation: the whole to enhance the space around the church and extend the purposes of the churchyard. It is hoped that the continued and extended use of the churchyard will perpetuate its historic nature and provide a place of beauty and consolation in bereavement for parishioners.

You may have reached here through a green door. To get back without using the side path go through the Garden.