Trinity Orchard

About

This little island of wilderness occupies the site of the former Church of the Holy Trinity, built in 1831 and demolished in 1966, when the land was owned by the Diocese of Bath and Wells. The land lay derelict for almost half a century, the only management being occasional scrub-clearing, strimming and weed-killing as authorised by Taunton Deane BC, who oversaw the site on behalf of the Diocese. Responsibility may now be with Wellington Town Council. However, a small team of TTW members carry out the actual work of maintaining and enhancing the site.

Directions

This small semi-wild orchard is located on Mantle Street right next to Wellington Medical Centre TA21 8BD. The entrance is a few meters from the Medical Centre car park, when walking away from the town centre. The entrance through iron gates in the grey stone wall. There are steps up into the orchard. The gate is locked at night by a neighbour. What3words: blink.corner.only.

Design

In 2012, after long negotiations with the Diocese by a member of Transition Town Wellington (TTW), a “faculty” was granted that permitted a change of use for the old churchyard. At the beginning of March 2013, town councillors, representatives of Wellington in Bloom and members of TTW led by Simon Ratsey gathered at the site to plant the small orchard that you can see now.

The ground is very uneven with several sunken areas, and numerous ant-hills, all of which have grown since the strimming activity ceased in 2013.

The plan for the future is to continue to manage the orchard in a way that is appropriate to encouraging wildlife. This is in line with official recommendations for the care of old churchyards, to enhance their role as small, local nature reserves.

While the trees remain small, and vulnerable to accidental or wilful damage, Trinity Orchard will continue to be locked night. However, as a community orchard, its crop of fruit should be shared around, and there will be occasions in the appropriate seasons when the public will be invited in to harvest (we hope) some of the bounty!

Implementation

Holes for the trees had been prepared in advance. This was not as easy as had been expected, with stretches of compacted cinder path and buried masonry from the former church building in places impeding the excavations. (Finds made at the time included Victorian potsherds, bits of glass and clay pipe stems, and bones – though none of human origin). This meant that the original plan to have the trees regularly spaced out in neat rows was not possible, but it could be argued that the resulting arrangement is more natural.

Some of the young trees struggled to get enough water during the exceptionally hot weather in their first summer, there being no water supply on site. Most, however, soon became established and a few of them bore fruit for the first time in 2015. One recurrent problem is infestation by the Rosy Apple Aphid, which causes young shoots to become distorted, and leaves any fruit stunted and malformed.

Biodiversity

Management of the site is kept to a minimum, for the sake of the wildlife. Mowing is carried out by scythe, and brambles that invade from the margins are dug up whenever possible.

A variety of mostly coarse grasses covers much of the site, although mowing the paths on a regular basis has opened up those areas to quite a range of wildflower species, many in the dandelion family. These are especially good for insects, which (as well as the ants that are everywhere) include bumble bees, different kinds of solitary bees, hoverflies, beetles, butterflies and moths, and a rather rare species of carrion beetle. Efforts to introduce other wildflower species have achieved modest results.

Large clumps of snowdrops on the southern side of the area, especially under the huge cherry tree, are believed to be a relic from the time of the church.

The area is regularly patrolled by cats living in the neighbourhood, which probably explains why few signs of mice or voles have been seen, but slow worms are known to be present, although they are very elusive. The bramble thickets and other shrubs around the margins provide habitats for a variety of bird species, with some evidence of nesting in past seasons.

Opportunities to increase the biodiversity will be taken when possible and appropriate. With the land now built up on all sides, the importance of the orchard as a relatively undisturbed wildlife site has increased.

iNaturalist Bioblitz (Coming soon)

2013

Acquired

1,488m²

Size

Plants Added

Plant Species

Existing Mature Trees

1x Flowering cherry
1x Laurel
1x Holly

Added Trees (Large)

Added Trees (Medium)

Added shrubs

Planting Plan

The gate to the site is located to the north which is shown at the top of the sketch plan.

There is a small area of meadow as you come in through the gate, with the apple trees spaced out within the inner area. As explained above, their exact location was affected by the rubble beneath the soil when it came to plant them.

The existing trees and shrubs on the boundaries and in the centre have grown taller since planting and since they are no longer maintained by the council. This means more shade is cast from the south, east and west edges. We hope in future some of the height from the laurel to the south can be reduced to let more light in for the benefit of the fruit trees.