The churchyard is the land surrounding the church and is used as a graveyard. It has been consecrated (set apart as sacred) by a bishop and is sometimes called 'God's Acre'. St. James's churchyard is an approximately quadrilateral area with an indentation on the south-west corner on which the vicarage and church hall are built. The church itself is situated on the north-west corner of the churchyard. The churchyard is bounded on three sides by St James's Road, to the west of the church, Park Road to the north of the church, and partly by St James's Avenue to the east of the church. The fourth side of the churchyard is not straight, is partly fenced and has the boundary running beside private houses, the back of the vicarage and (unfenced) beside the church hall. The size is approximately 380 feet, Park Road boundary, by 250 feet, St James's Avenue boundary. The churchyard area, including the church building, may be estimated as about 1.6 acres.

Footpaths run through the churchyard, but there are no public rights of way. The remainder of the churchyard is a burial ground. Since 1992 the graveyard has been closed for burials, except for reserved places on existing plots, though the interment of ashes is still permissible. The upkeep of the graveyard itself and all the churchyard boundaries has been transferred to the local authority.

A booklet 'Churchyard Records 1864-2000' was completed in February 2001. It contains complete listings of all burials and interments since the foundation of the church with plans of all recognisable graves. There are more than 4,000 graves recorded in the burial register, of which about 1,000 can be identified by their markings in the churchyard. This comprehensive record of the identifiable graves may be consulted by relatives and friends who wish to visit a particular grave. The record identifies the position of individual graves by maps and an alphanumeric reference. A copy is kept in the church office and there is a searchable database on this website. See the page Churchyard Records. The first burial record we have is of an eleven month-old boy, Walter Richard Daines, who died in 1864. Four vicars are buried in the churchyard, including the first, Revd. Fitzroy John Fitz Wygram. For more information on the graves in the churchyard see the page Graves.

There is a double garage beside the hall which is used mainly for storage for the church and for the nursery school, who are regular weekday hall users. There is also a shed in the churchyard for the storage of garden equipment. For pictures of the churchyard, including those in the snow, spring and autumn, see the images page The Churchyard.

The lych gate

The Lych Gate
The lych gate is the roofed gateway of the churchyard, it is really part of the church, lyc being the old English word for corpse or body. Thus the words 'lych gate' really means 'corpse gate'. In the Middle Ages most people were buried in just shrouds rather than coffins, the dead being carried to the lych gate and placed on a bier, where the priest conducted the first part of the funeral service under its temporary shelter. The priest always led

The War Memorial

the funeral procession into the church, and still does so. This is because he or she is the representative of the Church which is commending the soul of the dead person to God. The lych gate also used to serve as a shelter for the pall-bearers while the bier was brought from the church.

St. James's lych gate consists of a roofed porch-like structure over a gate, built of wood with four upright wooden posts in a rectangular shape. On top of this are a number of beams holding a pitched roof covered clay tiles. Lych gates are usually found at the traditional entrance to the churchyard, which for St. James's was originally in St. James's Road, but it was moved to its present site leading into Park Road in 1897.

The War Memorial
The War Memorial commemorates those men and women from local families who died in the forces in the service of their country during the two world wars. The plinth of the memorial is inscribed with the names of 124 such men who died in the first world war, 1914 to 1918, and the 29 men and women who died in the second world war, 1939 to 1945. The inscribed plinth is surmounted by a tall stone cross, which is visible from nearly all the churchyard. Wreaths are laid at the War Memorial in a ceremony on Remembrance Sunday.

'Their name liveth for evermore These died the death of honour
For God, King and Country In the Great War, 1914-1919'

Trees, Shrubs and Flowers in the Churchyard
Some of the trees, shrubs and flowers growing in the churchyard have long been thought to have a symbolic meaning. They remind us of things connected with the Christian faith.

The yew trees are very old. The yew is slow-growing and a very long-lived tree, so it has been looked upon as a symbol of immortality and therefore a suitable tree to be planted in the place where people are buried. The prickly leaves of the holly tree have often been thought of as a reminder of the crown of thorns which Jesus wore when he was crucified. The red berries are like drops of blood, and serve to remind us that Christ's blood was shed for us. Thus the holly tree has come to be known as a reminder of the Passion of Christ.

Yew Tree

Holly

Laurel

The daffodil and the lily remind us of everlasting life. Though the bulbs look dead when they are placed in the ground, new life springs within them and they blossom into beautiful flowers. So our church is decorated with such blooms especially at Easter time. The lily of the valley, with its white blossoms is a symbol of purity and humility, and it is often associated with Mary the mother of Jesus. The clover, being a three-leaved plant is an obvious symbol of the Holy Trinity. Each leaf has three parts, which are not three separate leaves, but one leaf. So likewise, God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; yet He is not three Gods, but one. The Christmas rose has been thought of as a reminder of the Nativity.

Daffodil

Clover

Christmas Rose

Lily of the Valley

Historical Background to St. James's Churchyard

The churchyard outside the south porch in 1993

The original churchyard was just a small area immediately surrounding the church, with the cemetery at the mother church of St. Mary's, Hampton, used for burials. In 1882, an acre of land in Park Road next to the church became the parish's new burial ground, and this was enclosed in 1888 to keep children out. In 1897 the lych gate was moved from its original site on St. James’s Road to its current position on Park Road. The war memorial, designed by P. M. Andrews, was unveiled on May 26th 1920 to commemorate those parishioners who had lost their lives during the 1st World War. Subsequently, the names of the 2nd World War victims were added. In 1962 thirty or so unmarked small burial mounds near the Lych Gate, which were believed to be the graves of children who had died in the influenza epidemic of 1919, were levelled and a Garden of Remembrance created for the interment of ashes. In 1990 the churchyard maintenance became the responsibility of the local authority, and the graveyard was closed for burials in 1992, though the interment of ashes is still permissible. St. James’s Churchyard Records (1864-2000) were completed in 2001 and exist both as a booklet and as an on-line, searchable database.

For a more detailed account, read the page The History of St. James's Churchyard.