Dagenham Village Churchyard

Dagenham Village Churchyard is a Local Nature Reserve in Dagenham, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It covers 0.88 hectares and is owned by the borough council. The church of St Peter and St Paul dates from the early thirteenth century. The graveyard has been in use for over eight centuries. Seventeen Commonwealth war graves lie within its bounds, nine from the First World War and eight from the Second. The site was closed to burials in the 1990s. The church and council agreed to turn it into a nature reserve. Its wildlife value centres on invertebrates such as butterflies and crickets. These attract bats, while woodpeckers feed on an avenue of lime trees. A fox family also makes its home here. Visitors enter from Church Lane. The churchyard offers quiet paths among mature trees and gravestones. Wildflowers grow between the stones, supporting the insect life. Woodpeckers can be heard tapping in the lime avenue. Bats appear at dusk, and foxes may be seen foraging. The atmosphere combines history with the rhythms of nature.