Churchyard extension to St Bartholomew's, Holton

There are no words to describe the debt of gratitude owed to Richard and Paul Hunt, former and current residents of the village respectively for their amazing gift of land to extend the churchyard at St Bartholomew’s thus enabling adequate burial space for many years to come.

The story began back in 2018 when the possibility of transferring some land was first mooted. Since then we have negotiated the vagaries of the legal system and the intricacies of administrative detail to eventually arrive at the transfer of the land to the Church, which was completed recently. It does not seem possible that it has taken so many years to get to this stage but there have been a number of challenges to overcome along the way. Perseverance by one of our Parish Councillors has brought about the successful acquisition of the land by the Church.

Since the beginning of this odyssey the Parish Council have supported the project and have assisted with obtaining planning permission for change of use which required archaeological and arboricultural surveys as well as funding legal, survey and planning fees. The Parish Council is committed to providing assistance to the Church to carry out the necessary clearance and wall-building work to integrate the new land with the existing churchyard and will try to help in any way we can.

The Church, the Parish Council and the village in general are grateful for the exceptional generosity of Richard and Paul and we will find a way to appropriately recognise their gift.

Holton Parish Council July 2024