 Shelford
St Peter and St Paul
Churchyard
The churchyard surrounds the church, but the main active sections are to the
north and west. The oldest surviving stone is that of Thomas Rainer who died
on 5 October 1720. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the churchyard
was graced with a number of fine slate headstones carved by Sparrow and Eastwood
of Radcliffe-on-Trent and Wood of Bingham. Six airmen killed locally in 1941
and 1942 are remembered with War Graves Commission gravestones which are looked
after by a rota of villagers. The problem of mowing and maintenance was eased
from 1953 when the stones were moved to the boundaries. The churchyard is still
open for burials. In 1989 part was set aside for a Garden of Remembrance for
cremations.
Within the churchyard, fifty metres south west of the church, is an earthwork
from a Civil War gun battery. This has been scheduled as a monument of national
importance by English Heritage.
| 
