486 Principles of Landscape- Gardening 



principles of simplicity, order, and neatness, as guides in laying out church- 

 yards, we shall next proceed with the details. 



Situatioji and Soil. — It is almost unnecessary to observe that a country 

 church ought either to be built adjoining the village for which it is intended, 

 or, if it is to serve two or three villages, in a situation central to them. The 

 surface of the ground ought to be an elevated knoll, in order that the church 

 and the spire may be seen on every side, and, if possible, throughout the 

 whole extent of the parish. The knoll should be sufficiently large to admit 

 of its summit being reduced to a level, or, at all events, to a nearly level, 

 platform, or piece of table land, about the size of the churchyard ; a level 

 surface being more convenient for the purpose of interment than a sloping 

 one, for a reason that will be given hereafter. Besides which, the ground 

 plan of a church being a parallelogram, to see it rising out of a round knoll 

 would be contrary to every idea of a suitable and secure foundation. Where 

 there is no want of room, or not many burials likely to take place, the surface 

 of a churchyard, instead of being level, may be quite irregular ; but, in this 

 case, the places for graves, and the walks of communication to these places, 

 must be rendered easily accessible, and, to a certain extent, level. This can 

 alwa3s be effected by laying the ground out in terraces ; a mode of disposition 

 which may be as advantageously adopted in churchyard gardening, as it is in 

 gardening as an art of culture. The soil should, if possible, be sandy or 

 gravelly, as being most suitable for promoting animal decomposition ; and 

 also because there is a general prejudice in favour of being buried in dry soil. 

 The worst of all soils for a churchyard is a stiff wet clay ; which, by its com- 

 pactness and retention of water, prevents the natural decomposition of the 

 body, and changes it into an adipose substance. 



The Size of the Church, and the Extent of the Churchyard, will depend on the 

 population for whose service they are intended ; and on the probable slowness 

 or rapidity of its increase. The form of the church may be considered as 

 fixed, by precedent and immemorial usage, in that of a parallelogram, with or 

 without projections at the sides, so as to give it the form of a Latin cross ; 

 and having a tower, steeple, or cupola, at one end, for the church bells and a 

 clock. There are some examples, however, of churches having been made 

 semicircular, circular, or polygonal, in the plan, so as to suit them to par- 

 ticular situations. 



The form of the churchyard is not fixed, like that of the church, but will 



on each side a neat low wire fence, and beyond this is the burying-ground, the 

 greater part of which is dug and planted with herbacecfus plants, interspersed 

 with low trees and flowering shrubs, and divided by walks, in some places 

 straight, and in others winding. The whole is interspersed with graves and 

 gravestones; and, as the gates in the wire fence are all kept locked, no person 

 is allowed to walk among the graves who is not admitted by the gardener. 

 Every recent grave is covered with a mound of green turf, kept smooth by 

 clipping or mowing, and all the rest of the ground is kept dug and planted ; 

 8o that no flowers can be said to be grown on the recent graves, but only 

 beside them. The recent graves are those in which interments have taken 

 {)lace within two or three years ; and are always known by being covered 

 with green turf, which is kept fresh by watering, and sl.ort and thick by fre- 

 quent mowing. Nothing that we ever saw in a cemetery or churchyard comes 

 up to the high keeping displayed in this one. The walks and their edges 

 were perfect ; the grass every where like velvet ; the dug ground as fresh and 

 garden-like as if it had been recently dug and raked ; the flowers neatly staked 

 and tied up, where tying was required ; and not a single decayed flower or 

 leaf could we observe any where. The boundary walls were covered with 

 ivy and other climbers, and we observed trained on them one or two fig trees 

 and some other plants of the tree kind ; but, as in consequence of the wire 

 fence we could not get into the interior walks, we speak only of what we saw 

 from the avenue. {Gard. Mag., 1842, p. 349.) 



