A gathering of around 20 people witnessed a ceremony at which the graveyard of St Etheldreda’s Church, St Audries, was extended to include the ‘Donkey Patch’.

The paddock next to the church was once called Priory Piece but acquired its new name after donkeys were corralled there overnight in 1856.

By day, they had carried panniers of cobble stones from the beach for the paths around the new church.

Having already been given St Audries School, the National Society was persuaded to sell the plot to the Parochial Church Council for a shilling (5p) by the founders of the school in 1946.

Seventy-five years passed before the PCC jumped the final hurdle and extended the graveyard into the ‘donkey patch’.

Retired bishop the Right Rev Nigel Stock officiated at the ceremony attended by, among others, the rector the Rev Nicky Morgan, on Thursday, September 23.