The Right Rev Robert Atwell welcomed members of the church and Messy Church parents and children and thanked the generous benefactors who had provided the money to purchase the land, with the help and support of the parochial parish council (PCC) and said everyone present could take part in this historic service.
Tony and Jenny Batten, followed by the bishop, then the vicar led everyone around the boundary of the field.
Prayers were said and a Bible reading from 1 Corinthians was read by Caroline North.
Mrs Batten presented the petition to the Bishop and psalms, including the well-known 23rd Psalm, were recited.
The bishop read the Deed of Consecration and presented it to Mrs Batten who received it on behalf of the PCC. Finally he made the sign of the cross with his bishop’s shepherd’s crook on the ground in the middle of the field and blessed everyone there.
The PCC would like to thank all the people who have worked so hard to get the field ready for the day.
A gateway was opened up from the old churchyard and the stone hedging was done by Tony Batten and Roger Alford.
The work and all materials for this were donated in memory of: Jean Batten, Helen Alford, Ian Alford and Clifford Dawe.
Their names will be fixed on a brass plate on a slab of granite which has been built into the stonework.
Incidentally while the work was being done an old gravestone dated 1678 was found in the old hedge.
The consecrated churchyard is now ready for use as a Christian burial place and will serve the community of Sourton for many years to come.
St Thomas à Becket is a 14th Century church founded on an earlier settlement — going back before 970 when Aelfgyth was chaplain and it was likely that there was a simple church building on the site.
It was dedicated in honour of St Thomas à Becket in the 14th Century by descendents of two knights who had taken part in the murder of Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 — Fitz Urse and William de Tracey, who were both Devon men.
The church at Sourton — on a hillside site with wonderful views from the churchyard — has undergone numerous alterations over the centuries but remains a place of peace where prayer can come easily.
‘A moorside church, to Tors akin, Grey without and calm within’, in the words of Rev A Hunter, vicar of Sourton 1953-1963.
Sourton Cross dates from about the 6th Century and carries lettering linking it to a late Roman military leader.