North Aston Churchyard

The PCC in North Aston is working hard to keep the churchyard open.

Currently, it seems that there are no burial plots left, but we are trying to follow the Church of England's legal processes that allow for re-use of full churchyards. It isn't easy, but we have two plans - one involves moving some 27 headstones that are over 100 years old to a new site within the churchyard so we can use those grave spaces again; the other involves grave spaces that have been previously used but have no headstones. However, we have to find records of when these were used, and that is not easy.

The PCC is doing all it can: several people have responded, very understandably, to a noice put in the Times. We asked for any family members of those 27 headstones that might be moved to get in touch. All correspondence will be included in the legal process, and the Church of England has set processes for this - so no-one will be ignored.

The main thing is: we all want to keep the churchyard open, and we are doing our best, within the guidelines and rules set out for us, to do this. The rector, churchwardens and PCC apologise to anyone who has been upset by this process; and are grateful to all who have expressed their understanding. Together we will try to serve our village community.

The Banbury Guardian printed a very helpful article about this; do click here if you'd like to read what they had to say. And do contact the rector through the Contact page if you can help identify unmarked graves or want to express your concern at the process.