Preserving our ecology & wildlife for all to enjoy

Aim

Through community support and 27,000 volunteer hours, we are successfuly reclaiming this historic site from erosion and climate change.

Our story, reclaiming a historic site while combatting erosion and the effects of climate change………..

“The volunteers are amazing, giving up thousands of hour’s time to preserve this piece of history for others to see and learn from. I would like to personally thank every one of the volunteers for giving up their time, working so hard to make this a place of beauty and history.”

Combating erosion by planting specialist plants and seeds,

At the top of a wall of ivy, preparing the group to stop erosion.

The Farsley Rehoboth Baptist Burial Ground was a place of internment from 1785 to 2000 and reflected the growth of Farsley, Leeds and in particular its textile industry with many prominent residents buried there.

In total there are circa 4,000 local people from Farsley, Rodley and Pudsey interred in the Rehoboth, all with their own histories and contribution to the growth and history of Farsley.

The work commenced with the purchase of the Rehoboth on 31st May 2019 and has progressed with over 27,000 volunteer hours dedicated to reclaiming this historic site. It is situated on a steep wooded hillside and affected by many aspects of climate change including water run-off erosion on the clay soil.

Our first ever donation was from the Aviva Community Fund. We appreciate your ongoing support for our important community project, and truly appreciate the additional help from Wild Isles.

Bringing together all the community.......

For many, many years there had been no access for relatives to visit graves without trespass. The neglect of the Burial Ground had been considerable. The only entrance on Coal Hill Lane was padlocked and inaccessible due to overgrowth of trees and foliage.

This was the only registered Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in the UK with no right to access on Remembrance Sunday, until our televised service on 11th November 2019.

Please click here for TV coverage of our inaugural service. 

Our Registered Charity, (Number 1182468) was established in March 2019 to purchase, reclaim and maintain this historic ground, make accessible and restore the heritage of the local people and return to the community as an asset. We are formally designated an official Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.

There are eight official War Graves and fifteen Remembered Graves in the burial ground from both World Wars. All of which are fully researched with their stories waiting to be told to the community with an additional 15 "Remembered Graves" discovered with an inscription paying tribute to a fallen member of their family. November is a month of Remembrance with great emphasis on those who gave their lives.

We are are currently preparing for the 2023 Armistice Day Service we hold every 11th November, featuring poems, paintings and a choir from a local Primary School that looks down on the Rehoboth. This is particularly poignant as we commemorate a 19 year old serviceman who died in France three hours after the guns went silence on the original Armistice Day 

Please click here to visit our website for further information on our War and Remembered Graves.

A reunion across the generations of family members.

What we have achieved to date combatting erosion and climate change............

The Rehoboth is a two acre site, situated on a steep clay/soil hillside with no natural stone outcrops, other than what were once open coal seams, where the local residents in Victorian days, could collect free coal (hence the name of Coal Hill Road for the road that adjoins our perimeter walls).

In the twelve months up to 8th October 2023 we have held 165 volunteer work sessions, which equates to 1,710 volunteer attendees who have given up 6,840 hours of their time

Volunteers completing an all weather accessible path in August 2023.

As well as combatting the effects of climate change, we are also combatting depredations from years of neglect. In February 2023 we commenced our "Archaeological Dig" where we are removing 60 tonnes, (we originally estimated it at 40 tonnes….) of soil and building debris, bull dozed in 2003 on to historic graves during widening of a private road.

The soil is then separated and moved in wheelbarrows 200 metres up steep hills, sieved to remove stones and is then used to replace eroded soil in our new Bereavement Services area. Approximately half a tonne per week is recycled; we plan to complete this reclamation by the end of summer 2024.

Helping to clear building materials bulldozed onto graves 30 years ago.

Our eco-system and wildlife is central to our work. We are creating a "stumpery" to provide habitat, shelter and feeding stations for existing and newly introduced wildlife, which can be observed by people walking past, on buses, as well as those within our grounds. In the last four weeks (September/October 2023) we have made our quarter mile perimeter  “hedgehog escape proof”, as we complete the preparatory work prior to rehoming blind and disabled hedgehogs in partnership with a Leeds base hedgehog rescue group.

Our eco-system and wildlife is central to our work. We are creating a "stumpery" to provide habitat, shelter and feeding stations for existing and newly introduced wildlife, which can be observed by people walking past, on buses, as well as those within our grounds. In the last four weeks (September/October 2023) we have made our quarter mile perimeter  “hedgehog escape proof”, as we complete the preparatory work prior to rehoming blind and disabled hedgehogs in partnership with a Leeds base hedgehog rescue group.

Completing the  hedgehog haven from recycled stumps with specialist feeding stations to be added.

A Rehoboth fox posing for a photograph.

We have developed a new product for paths, consisting of recycled plastic squares filled with gravel that can be moved to different areas as required. This reduces grass damage from water as its 90% porous nature reduces the rate of surface water run-off.  In summer 2023 we built four of these paths (very similar to “French Drains”) totalling 140 metres and have a similar number planned for the first quarter of 2024.

Constructing and completing a combined water run off and path.

"Team Work"

We are often told our reclamation project has galvanised the community, with the "can do" attitude of the volunteers.

The ongoing development of this project has created a sense of local pride, recognised on 30th July 2023 by the presentation and unveiling of a commemorative plaque by Pudsey Civic Society.

It has enabled visitors to be reunited with the heritage of a previously lost local asset which now benefits relatives, "locals" and friends.

Our Heritage Team provide conducted tours for the general public and relatives on a weekly basis, supported by an online database incorporated on our website: 

Please click here to visit our website.

Recycling and protecting through our “Treeage” process:

To develop and deliver our role within the ecosystem we have mapped and preserved trees and plant life which will be monitored and documented each year. We are transforming sections of our two acre site with new plant life, bird habitats and water supplies to combat the effects of climate change.

Following the drought in summer 2022, a large amount of resources have been dedicated to forestry work on our trees, which are up to 140 years old and were being starved of moisture,  as the majority were covered in ivy with roots up to 75 years old.

Removal of the ivy roots (up to three inches thick) not only stabilised our protected trees but led to our "Treeage" process with removed roots and branches divided into three usages:

1. Recycling forested woods into wood merchandise of Christmas Rehoboth Reindeers, light up displays and new for 2023, Rehoboth Robins.

2. Providing non –native saplings for coppicing and fence at a local Community Farm Trust.

3. The remainder provided free to the local community on a call and collect basis.

Reindeer, Robins, Gonks and Pickwicks made from our recycled wood.

Seeding and planting:

In summer 2023 we completed the reclamation of the land behind our road facing perimeter wall, which contained the rubbish of 50 years of fly tipping and buried plastic bin liners of rubbish. This work took a year; we were rewarded in September 2023 by our volunteers sowing a 250 square yard Wildflower Meadow on what had been a rubbish dump. The interesting combination of weather in West Yorkshire in late September meant that shoots started appearing within 72 hours.

Two weeks after seeding, our Wildflower Meadow is already appearing, the inset photograph shows the seed mix we have sown.

We are restoring our historic terraces by the planting of resilient species of plant life that will protect and knit together the steep clay hillsides that make up the burial ground. We have new means of collecting and distributing rainwater to mitigate temperature changes. Species introduced in 2023 include Yew Tree Hedges; Yellow Racket and Wood Anemones in areas under our canopy of trees.  Our updates to this page over the next six weeks will include a plant map showing our autumn seeding programme.

We are restoring our historic terraces by the planting of resilient species of plant life that will protect and knit together the steep clay hillsides that make up the burial ground. We have new means of collecting and distributing rainwater to mitigate temperature changes. Species introduced in 2023 include Yew Tree Hedges; Yellow Racket and Wood Anemones in areas under our canopy of trees.  Our updates to this page over the next six weeks will include a plant map showing our autumn seeding programme.

Our portable and recognisable skills all carried out by unpaid volunteers within the volunteer teams. These skills range from the restoration of memorials, rebuilding a quarter of a mile of 150 year old walls, family and military research, excavation, non invasive foliage management.

Volunteers clearing foliage for new planting, September 2023.

Rehoboth Reindeer recycling and assembly station, October 2023.

Our project contributes to our local area in West Leeds/Pudsey by providing access and escorted tours on a site that was inaccessible for decades, attracting visitors from other areas that utilise local shops and services.

We have established partnerships with local and national businesses, also our local Academy and Youth Organistions with 120 inducted volunteers. We encourage volunteer placement opportunities with Voluntary Action Leeds, corporate volunteering opportunities and a local Specialist Independent Learning Centre, Police Cadets and Scouts. We are now accredited for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme and hold weekly evening sessions from April to September for volunteers who work in the day. 

Please request any information or further details of our work.

Email: [email protected]

A testimonial to our work......... 

My name is Mike Turner and I live on the Isle of Wight with my wife Ann. I have been doing Family History research on my wife Ann's side. She has two half sisters, Jean and Margaret from her father's first marriage.

Unfortunately they lost their Mum when they were 5 and 7. Jean and Margaret were never taken to their mother's grave although they knew where it was. Then of course the Rehoboth Burial Ground was sold and became a jungle. This week we visited the site expecting to only be able to look at the gate! Imagine our surprise to see all the work that had taken place and was still underway. I spoke to the volunteers who were working there and explained Jean's situation and that her mum's grave was E23.

I could not believe they said it was accessible. We donned high Vis jackets and were taken to the grave. Can you imagine how Jean felt being able to see and touch her mother's grave for the first time ever, at age 78. The bonus was her Grandparents were also interred with her mother.

Our visitors and re-uniting families......

How YOU can help............

We are focusing on the restoration and rebuilding of graves, securing the ecological balance by utilising 48 months of experience in developing infrastructure, creating all weather accessible paths, tracks and stepped paths that preserve the steep slopes from erosion. We have achieved 80% of our project for installing 264 grave markers with personalised plaques to mark the many graves that do not have any identification.

Please click here to visit our website and see our reclamation work.

We have introduced an electricity supply from the National Grid to provide lighting, a Wi-Fi hub for better access to the QR stations, audio visual projections during tours and cameras to record wildlife activity.

We appreciate your interest and the continued support from Aviva staff.

To enable us to raise our target fund for this cherished local historic site we appeal to your generosity to request you make a donation to this very worthwhile Charity.

This project successfully funded on 24th November 2023