The Local History Group archive includes many photographs of the churchyard. None of them are quite like this one:
This rather poor-quality photograph, which came to us as a postcard, is unique because it is the only one we know of that shows the car park and the church green area partially cleared.
Earlier photographs show very many more gravestones in the area pictured; later ones how the area more or less fully cleared and a row of pine trees to the left of the path. The mystery is: when was this photograph taken ?
The only clue we have is that the same picture appears on the front cover of the Kildwick Parish Magazine dated October 1972 - which gives the latest date.
The question of when the churchyard was cleared leads on to another question: what happened to gravestones ?
It seems reasonable to assume that some of the stones that were removed were used to create the various paths around the church. But is it the case that the only ones reused for this purpose came from the car-park area or were some from the green in front of the church also used as paving ? And what happened to the rest ?
If you think you can help us resolve any of these questions, please email history@farnhill.co.uk.
Posted: 29/8/2020
Photograph courtesy of Eddie Marriner