Latest News : Paull's new cemetery

The long-standing saga of the new graveyard is now coming to fruition : many of you will remember that the late Alan Lambert, of Low Paull Farm, made a very generous gift of land to the Church Council to extend the north-east corner of the churchyard, making it into a square. At the time it could not be forseen how soon it would be needed for burials so it was agreed that the land would continue in cultivation until needed by the church.

Several years passed, Mr Lambert passed away, his son Andrew inherited the farm and the churchyard slowly filled up .... eventually the Church Council began to consider when to incorporate the extra land into the churchyard, believing that they had around 10 years before the need would become urgent. Once moves began to develop the land to be suitable for burials, two complications arose - 1) the land was waterlogged, liable to flooding and not suitable for burials and 2) the Church Council is not permitted to own land or property and so Mr Lambert's gift, despite his good intentions, became null and void! His son, Mr. Andrew Lambert, when apprised of the situation, very generously offered to exchange the land gifted by his father for a piece of land to the east of the churchyard on top of the hill and thus drier and suitable for burials and agreed that it should be held by the Parish Council instead of the Church Council to provide a parish cemetery adjacent to the churchyard.

The legal proceedings took some considerable time but eventually all parties were satisfied and the new graveyard began to take shape - and not before time, because by the end of 2010 the churchyard had very little space left and the Church Council has already begun proceedings to close the churchyard to new burials. The new development has now passed the planning stage and has been granted permission for Change of Use from arable land to burial ground after the Parish Council commissioned a geophysical survey to confirm that there is nothing of archaeological interest hidden in the field - and the land has been fenced and gated, the soil prepared and grass sown. The cemetery now merits a page of its own - for more information and further progress please click on the Paull Cemetery link on the menu to the left.