Today let’s celebrate the summer loveliness of the cemetery where swathes of daisies and long legged buttercups and clouds of lacey cow parsley float among the gravestones.

Radnor Street Cemetery closed to new burials in the 1970s and after that interments could only take place where there was space in an existing family grave. This still applies today where burials are most usually those of cremated remains.

In 2005 the cemetery was designated a local nature reserve and the value of this area was widely promoted. Bird and bat boxes were erected and areas of grass were left to grow long to provide habitat for insects. Led by Swindon Ranger’s team and members of a community gardening group called LEAVES a pond was created in what was to be a wildlife memorial garden. It was hoped that the installation of a water feature would encourage dragonflies, newts and frogs and would enhance the biodiversity of the cemetery site.

Sadly, local government cutbacks and the diminishing number of Rangers saw these plans falter, but a growing team of new volunteers is now at work in the cemetery on a regular basis. Their initial interest was to keep the area around the Commonwealth War Graves clear and accessible but in recent months they have extended their work to other graves, revealing yet more fascinating Radnor Street Cemetery stories.