The churchyard of Wittewierum (the Netherlands). Author: Albert-Erik de Winter
It’s curious how the frameworks we use to order the world then determine how we view that world. When we have peripheral phenomena that could fit more than one framework, they tend to disappear from view. When we think about Groninger Kerken, we think about an organisation dedicated to preserving historic buildings. Not surprising given the name. Few people realise that the foundation is also one of the largest nature managers in the province.
Perhaps our thinking in strictly separate categories of culture and nature is a direct consequence of the growing distance between man and nature. Today, our lives are no longer governed by the seasons and the flora and fauna that come with the changing seasons. This compartmentalised view also applies to our views of the church in the past. For centuries it was much more than just a building or a spiritual institution. It was part of our landscape on several levels, it was part of a much larger ‘ecosystem’ of functions. To stay with the immediate natural surroundings: the opportunities it provided were often part of the ‘parsonage’s assets’, the churchly goods whose yields were intended for the parson, and subsequently for the minister.
Swimming, singing, zooming, cooing
Until late in the nineteenth century, officers of the church relied on farming for part of their income. Many graveyards were grazed by the sheep of the minister or the sexton. An apple orchard produced fresh fruit for the parsonage. A viskenij (fishpond), as the one that is still in Slochteren, was a way to guarantee fresh fish for the parsonage. Dovecots near the parsonage, in the graveyard and sometimes on the church itself provided meat. The dove droppings also produced income. In Engelbert you can still see a remarkable remnant of how the natural environment was used. In the late middle ages, its parson used to catch young starlings for pies or soup; the church wall still has the holes for the ‘starling pots’. In the eighteenth century, the churches of Oldambt received income from ‘iemengeld’ (bee fees)(ieme = Groningen dialect for bee); money that had to be paid for putting beehives near the rapeseed fields in the young Dollard polders. There are many other examples of a forgotten and sometimes lost world.
Something of a forester
Groninger Kerken owns more than 100 church buildings, but also more than 60 graveyards and cemeteries and a dozen parsonage gardens. They are given the same attention as the buildings, and naturally for completely different reasons than in the past. Their management is in line with the social objectives of the foundation. Early on, in the 1970s, ‘ensemble thinking’ took hold at Groninger Kerken: the immediate surroundings are just as important as the church itself. Not just because of the cultural-historical values – for example funerary heritage, such as headstones, graveyard fences and mortuary chapels – but also because of the importance of flora and fauna. The individual areas may be no more than postage stamps in a greater whole, but when you add it all together it is quite a sizeable area of nature. Instead of one large wood, Groninger Kerken actually owns several thousand trees. That makes the foundation something of a forester.
Thesinge Church and graveyard. Author: Bert Kaufmann
Oases
Churchyards are often oases of peace in hectic surroundings. That makes them attractive hiding and breeding sites for all types of animal and plant species. Trees have a chance to grow old, and they provide shelter for birds. Evergreen species, such as yew and holly, are great overwintering sites (‘perching sites’) for groups of long-eared owls. Some species of bat use tree holes as a summer roost and use the graveyard as a foraging area. A range of flowering plants is attractive to insects. Mushrooms struggle in many places because of excessive fertilisation, but graveyards produce a wealth of species because the soil is undisturbed. Headstones and graveyard walls often host rare mosses, lichen, and ferns. In other words: graveyards are full of life!
There is an urgent and important need to care for these green ‘stepping stones’. Many species are threatened by human activity, such as expanding construction. Take the barn owl: historically, it nested in church towers. These days they rarely do. In the twentieth century, the expansion of villages made the distance between towers and pasture and arable fields, where barn owls find their food, too great. It simply came too exhausting for the birds to fly to and from. So, these days most barn owls breed in barns in rural areas.
‘30 by 30’
Climate change is a second reason to care for nature in churchyards. Drier and hotter summers and wetter winters make things difficult for the traditional native species. They are also threatened by exotic species which thrive in these changing conditions.
Biodiversity is crucial in times of climate change. The more diverse the species in an area, and the more links between plants, animals and moulds, the more resistant it will be to changes and threats. Compare it to a church tower: it does not collapse immediately when you remove a few stones. The stones nearby can absorb the pressure, provided they are strong enough.
With good design and management, churchyards provide an enormous opportunity for greater biodiversity. Together with Landschapsbeheer Groningen, Groninger Kerken developed the programme ‘Biodiversity in graveyards and cemeteries’. It is a modest contribution to the ’30 by 300 target that was set by the UN Biodiversity Conference in 2022: worldwide 30 percent of nature on land and at sea should be protected by 2030.
An atalanta on a gravestone in Den Ham. Author: Albert-Erik de Winter
Centuries and seasons
Around a dozen graveyards have been selected to participate. Last spring, the project started following a comprehensive inventory of the species. Thesinge is one of the participating sites. The plans for this particular place are special because the cultural history of the site has been incorporated in the plans: the graveyard is located on the site of the former monastery, the current church building is a remnant of the former monastery church, which used to be much larger.
The medieval manuscripts of the nuns of Thesinge were the source of inspiration for the planting scheme. The decorations on the borders of the manuscripts include red campion, night-flowering catchfly, violets, and sticky mouse-ear chickweed (an annual from the carnation family). Soon, they will grow in the graveyard again. By planting bulbs that flower at different times, the contours of the monastery, which disappeared around 1600, become visible again.
Ivy has been planted near some trees. The notion that this strangulates healthy trees is widespread but incorrect: ivy is harmless and provides wonderful hiding places and food sources for insects and birds. Like hedgehogs, they can also make use of the dead hedge that was built. The graveyard will also have some new trees. Next autumn and winter, Landschapsbeheer Groningen, together with volunteers from the local committees of the churches in question, will plant the trees. Because we still have the seasons.
By Martin Hillenga for Groninger Churches/Groninger Kerken
Further reading: Albert-Erik de Winter, Rust, oud groen en stenige biotopen. Natuur op kerkhoven en begraafplaatsen in Groningen (Groningen 2015); Miriam van der Waart, ‘Groen cultureel erfgoed. Tegenwind wordt weer wind mee’, Groninger Kerken 38 (2021) issue 1, 17-20.
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