Churchyard Nature Reserve

The churchyard is a consecrated burial ground which was laid out in 1845-6 with a brick wall around it. It contains many interesting graves and monuments, particularly those of Crosse and Blackwell (of baked bean fame) and a former Lord Mayor of London.

The long path from the lychgate to the church door is bordered by pollarded lime trees, while the path to the rear of the church is an avenue of horse chestnuts. There is an ancient yew tree near the road.

At the back of the church a woodland path borders a grassed area for children. This is adjacent to the plot of land where the original vicarage once stood, which has now become the Bently Old Vicarage Nature Reserve. Here paths wind their way through woodland.

The whole area is managed to maintain bio-diversity. The grass is not cut until July to allow wild flowers to set their seed. The churchyard is particularly attractive in the spring when primroses, violets, celandine and anemones abound. For more information about the flora please contact the churchyard warden, Jill Lewis.

The All Saints' burial register begins in 1846, but the first burials have no memorials. The earliest legible memorial dates to 1847. This is the vase on a plinth west of the path, to John Seagrave. Further up is the grave of Jane Islip, who died in 1849, and her sister Mary, who died in 1851. There are many memorials from the 1850s onwards.
All of the memorial inscriptions (including those in the New Cemetery across the road, which opened in 1884) have been recorded by the Central Middlesex Family History Society. Copies of the complete list are in the Local History Collection at the Civic Centre Library in Harrow, and in the Greater London Record Office.

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