Felbridge St Johns

It is a curious fact that county and ecclesiastical boundaries throw up some anomalies. Felbridge is one. It sits cheek by jowl with East Grinstead but is firmly in Surrey. Deaths are recorded as 'Godstone' or more recently Surrey East. The church is the most southerly in the Diocese of Southwark, dates from 1865. After 125 years the churchyard was declared 'full'. This transfers responsibility for day-to-day maintenance from the Church-Wardens to the local authority; whose contractors' cut the grass from time to time.

Doing some local history research I was fascinated by the number of East Grinstead people who are buried in its churchyard (my grandmother for one). But you realise that of our two parish Churches, one (St Mary's) has no churchyard and the other (St Swithun) has been closed to new burials for close on 200 years. Thus the only other burial option has been the local authority burial ground at Mount Noddy, for those whom a churchyard is seen as a better option then until recently St John's was the only answer.

You can find a copy of the churchyard map here

A more complete history of St John's here