Sheep brought in to protect church from beetles

The four Ronaldsey sheep have been employed to help maintain the grounds at St Wolfrida's church

A team of weed-eating sheep have been brought in to help maintain an ancient church.

St Wolfrida's in Horton is now home to four Ronaldsey sheep, employed to protect the building against deathwatch beetles.

The 12th century church requires £300,000 worth of repair works, as well as work to protect the building for the future.

Church warden, Philip Bailey, first suggested the use of livestock to maintain World War One graves outside the church.

The sheep were originally borrowed to help eat weeds in the churchyard, but parish administrator and shepherdess Ruth Marshall has bought them

The sheep were originally borrowed, but have since been purchased by parish administrator and shepherdess Ruth Marshall.

She explained money is tight for the church and the congregation is now fundraising to cover the cost of repairs.

The deathwatch beetles have eaten through the internal structure of the church, which was recorded as a building from 1401.

Mr Bailey said: "There were sheep in St Wolfrida’s on and off forever in the past hundreds of years.

"The absence of them has been since circa early millennium because the farmer that loaned the last lot moved away from the area.

"As a rural church in a rural setting, we should be as simple and as close to the natural world as the church is humble. St Wolfrida's is not a pristine clean town church with pristine clean parishioners, we are whatever the seasons bring - sun, rain, mud and wind - with animals."

There are 14 'flockwatch' members helping to monitor the sheep, as well as members of the community who are helping look after the church

As an experienced shepherdess, Ms Marshall used her contacts to source four Ronaldsey sheep, known for their love of eating weeds.

She explained there is now a 'flockwatch' team of 14 people helping to monitor the sheep, alongside church verger Jackie Lydford.

The team have also received help from the wider church community with rakes, shears and strimmers to maintain the church grounds for the areas in the churchyard which the sheep can't reach.

Ms Marshall said the team had helped to make the sheep project a success and had created a "real community spirit" in the heart of Wimborne.

She added: "The sheep have attracted the attention and brought together a Horton community who want to see the survival of the ancient and much loved church, that is being eaten by the deathwatch beetle that threatens its survival.

“It's been a pleasure working with Horton and the Wimborne Villages as a whole, along with Wimborne Minster to support this project.”