The Butler Memorial Trust
registered charity no. 1076810
Fevin Nature Reserve Burial Ground
The Fevin Nature Reserve and Burial Ground once formed part of a hilltop smallholding managed for around forty years by Arthur and Olive Fevin. Arthur and Olive had always adopted a ‘green’ approach to life and in 1998 donated around twelve acres of species rich land to the Butler Memorial Trust.
The site has provision for up to 300 burials. We also accept ashes for burial or scattering.
The site consists of a small field reserved for burials and two larger ones currently maintained as pasture. The field margins and hedges are managed with a view to enhancing the habitat for native plants and wildlife. There are two areas of established copse and the trustees have overseen the planting of a new copse and the renovation of a small pond.
Our latest planting project aims to create a small orchard of traditional local varieties of cider apples.
In the long term the site will be managed as a nature reserve.
The Site
Visitors often feel that there is a special atmosphere at the Fevin Nature Reserve. The area is steeped in history and, although not evident on the ground, a geophysical survey undertaken in 1993 showed the ramparts, ditches and round houses of an Iron-Age hill fort. In the neighbouring field a Roman burial was excavated in 1945 and contained a skeleton, grave goods and pottery, much of which is now in the County museum.
More recently, in 1942, Hurricane BE-566 flown by Robin McNair crashed on the site. The pilot bailed out and landed in Paradise – a few miles down the road! He went on to have an illustrious career becoming Squadron Leader. Pieces of wreckage were recovered in the late 1990s by enthusiast Tim Hake who was able to contact the pilot’s son and bring him to visit the site of his father’s brush with fate.
