The churchyard contains numerous interesting graves and four listed tombs, and is divided into four railed and enclosed areas with public access to only two; it is bisected by paths which are in frequent public use. There are some 1300 visible monuments in and around the church, and it is thought that over 26,000 burials took place here.
The first church of St Mary Walthamstow was founded in the early-12th century on the site of an older church. The current building is largely 16th-century with later alterations. The timber-framed Ancient House near the church probably stands on the site of the original Manor of Walthamstow.
89 GoodGymers have supported St Mary Walthamstow Churchyard with 46 tasks.
Wednesday 8th February 2023
Written by Katriona Goldmann (She/her)
✅ Another path done
Kath, Claire and Kat were at St Mary’s church this week helping shovel wood chip and wheeling it over to lay down a new path in the graveyard.
Wednesday 1st February 2023
Written by Redbridge runner
Well done to everyone who came along on a cold night! It looks like the wires have crossed and the goodgymmers and Tim the gardener didn't find each other to complete the mission. Good to get out in fresh air on Wednesday night anyway;)
Wednesday 25th January 2023
Written by Sarah Whitehouse
Six chips off the old Goodgym block (Charlotte, Kat, Kathryn, Matt, Nerys and Sarah) braved the weather to lay some woodchip path in the churchyard at Saint Mary's, Walthamstow. Despite all six being headtorchless, the team energy was strong and the spirits were high as we shovelled and moved barrowloads of woodchip on a cold, dark, soggy night! Many hands definitely made swift work and the job was done in no time at all. Very well done to all who turned out on such a wild and woolly evening, and a particularly big Goodgym welcome to Kathryn, who joined us for the first time!
Wednesday 26th October 2022
Written by Helen Farebrother-Naylor
Tonight’s BadGym Halloween task at St. Mary’s churchyard was attended by Rosalind, Charlotte, and *Hell-en. Area activator Julia was not able to attend unfortunately, because she’s been *coffin’ (get well soon, and have plenty of iBOOprofen).
So, it was just the three of us basic witches. We, naturally, ran to the task under the cover of darkness.
On arrival, we located the bag of treats (secateurs), and tricks (chainsaw, bloody axe 🪓, the usual). After some tomfoolery, resulting in the near decapitation of yours truly, we set about the business of the task at hand. We remained surprisingly sanguine🩸 and, creeping it real, we diligently attacked the ivy in the churchyard, which had become frightfully overgrown. Do not take us for ghouls, we came well prepared with head torches and gloves. *Reader, it was an absolute massacre. *
Make no mistake, this was no task for arachnophobes. Several particularly hairy specimens were lying in wait for us in the shadows.🕷
We had some lovely thanks from the people at the church, where a service was going on in the welcome centre, so that was a real BOOOOn.
And, with that, after a village jog, we scattered into the night. *An absolute thriller. *
Until next time: Moooo hahahahaha.
Report by Helen 🧟♀️Scare👻brother-Naylor
Wednesday 3rd August 2022
Written by Redbridge runner
Arriving We were meeting at the Greenleaf church and I was wondering where everyone was at 6.40pm... but it turns out ladies were waiting at the front of the church, whilst I was inside at the back:) We had a lovely suprise and welcomed Sinead for her first ever goodgym session! Sadly Sinead hasn't signed up and I haven't taken her details so Sinead - if you're reading this, please leave a comment below to identify yourself:).
Girls Justs Wanna Have RUN This week we are once again back with another 80s song reference. Let's just face it - it was the best era for cool tunes;)! We started tonight's session with a warm up and then nice and gently jogged to the Lloyds Park, around it and made our way onto the Forest Rd. Those who've been to the session before started throwing in sounds of terror because they knew what was coming... Yes, The Hurst Hill of Hell was upon us but like a group of amazons we sprinted up like it was nothing, OK we jogged up composed, OK we moaned and groaned and swore to make it to the top...!!!! Great heart rate buster this! But once at the top we pushed on to the end of the road and arrived nicely warmed up (an understatement) for a session at the St. Mary's churchyard.
Spreading the seed Tim the gardener had a lovely surprise of a task for us - we had a task of collecting wildflower seeds from the grounds of the church but also across the road where a nice wildflower meadow had plenty of seeds to collect. Tim kindly explained to us how different seed pods and seeds look, showed us a variety of wildflowers such as cornflower, california and other poppies, nigella and many more. It was a gentle and relaxing task and gave us a chance to get to know each other, especially Sinead! After a quick 40 or so minutes we gently jogged to Greenleaf, remembering to take a group selfie photo and stretched down on arrival.
A lovely session !
You can sign up for next week HERE.
Wednesday 1st June 2022
Written by Redbridge runner
Such a lovely sunny evening to finish this short week with a bit of digging!
After initial confusion about the location we found the area and what needed to be done. It was a beautiful evening to wrap up the week with the chat about pretty much everything whilst digging out some very deep cow parsley roots!
Time went by really quickly and we were happy with our efforts!
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