Friends of Reading Old Cemetery
(aka Friends of Cemetery Junction)
Saturday, 28th September 2013
Reading Old Cemetery ~ Meadow raking

On two of the more open parts of the site it is hoped to establish wildflower meadows. These will only be mown once flowering is finished and the seed has developed and ripened. A few days after cutting the Friends came together to clear the mown material, raking and moving it away from the meadow areas to form habitat piles. Raking helps scatter the seed which will hopefully germinate over the coming months. To have left the material on the meadow to decay would have increased the fertility of the soil encouraging the growth of the grasses to the detriment of the wildflowers.

While these areas are largely free of monuments, they are in fact the location of many thousands of graves, those of the paupers, the poor of Reading who lacked the means to pay for their own funeral.

Created: Saturday, 15th March 2014
Photographs: Teresa Verney-Brooks