The Devils Door - Part 1: The Cult of the Dead. Many ancient churches are surrounded by graves. Early Pagan communities buried select people in places ... ward off evil spirits.
Many churches, like this one in Upton, Cambridgeshire, are surrounded by the dead. Early communities held that spirits from bad people would walk the Earth forever, in a sort of Pagan Purgatory, hurting the living. Thus these ghosts were feared, and Propitiation made. The good spirits from good people were to be encouraged, hence the dedicating of churches to dead saints on consecrated ground - the Cult of the Dead