Stone Church, St Mary the Virgin
13th Century parish church of Stone-next-Dartford, Kent
A place of welcome, prayer, healing and peace.
Eco Church is an A Rocha UK project, run in partnership with Christian Aid, The Church of England, The Methodist Church, Tearfund, The United Reformed Church and Allchurches Trust Limited.
A Rocha UK is a charity committed to mobilising Christians to care for nature.
Here at St Mary's a small group from the congregation continues to work on the A Rocha eco church project. It completed the initial questionnaire to get an understanding of where we are now in terms of our current eco status, and is continuing to address those areas where more work needs to be done.
We will continue to share news of our progress on this page (see below) and hope that our work will encourage others to work with us both within the church family and across our local and wider community.
Click the logo for more information about A Rocha UK
Season of Creation 2026 – Living Water. Take a look at the Eco-Church board this morning ( 6th September) because it has been refreshed to reflect this year’s theme ‘Living Water’; a powerful biblical vision of hope and ecological healing. Through living water comes healing; but in order to receive new life, we too must step into the water and also become part of God’s river of life, taking part in the healing of creation. With a focus on water, the Eco-Church Board suggests some ideas for how we can contribute to a more just and life-giving world. Thank you to the Eco-Church Steering Group for putting the board together.‘Hope for All Creation – a theological response to the environmental crises’This new resource has recently been published by the Church of England’s House of Bishops as a contribution to discerning how we exercise wise, responsible stewardship of the planet we share. You can order it as a book from the usual places or download it for free here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2026-06/hope-for-all-creation-for-web-new.pdf
Christmas 2025 - our participation in the Christmas tree festival saw the creation of a rather different 'tree', aimed at being one which was made and decorated with recyclable, re-purposed, re-used and compostable elements.
The 'Earth' was hung at the centre of the tree so that it could revolve freely within the 'tree' and its decorations.
At St Mary's in the summer of 2026 ....
We again actively participated in the 'Big Butterfly Count' - details are
as follows:-
The Big Butterfly Count -
Where are all the butterflies? Following the results of the Big Butterfly
Count 2024, Butterfly Conservation declared a butterfly emergency,
and they continue to need our help. By taking part in the Big Butterfly Count, a UK wide
survey, you can help assess the health of our environment. Simply spend 15 minutes
in any sunny spot and record your findings, reporting your sightings online. Find out more at
www.butterfly-conservation.org or pick up an identification chart in
church when available.
We have planted a variety of bulbs in the churchyard to provide for our
bumblebees and other insects, and soon some of the most important
wild flowers like dandelions will bloom to provide a continuing supply
of food for them all.
St Mary's is delighted to have achieved a Silver Eco church award.
The award and commemorative plaque were presented during our morning Eucharist on 30th October 2022 by the Mayor of Dartford, Cllr Paul Cutler, and can be seen on display in the church porch.
Planting for pollinators
Our old churchyard, like so many others, has many graves which have not been tended or visited by any family members for many decades.
An 'adopt a grave' scheme continues to be supported by a few members of the congregation who have each selected a very old and neglected grave and cleared out old grass and weed roots. Planting of the chosen sites with wildlife friendly plants and spring bulbs has been taking taking place over the past few years and the scheme encourages others to take part.
Our participation in the annual 'no mow May' within the churchyard continues annually and we have, expanded this into 'let it bloom in June' and beyond, where possible, into July. This is planned to continue over the coming years with the added bonus of providing plenty of forage for our resident (the Rector) bee keeper's hives. The honey is delicious!