Wednesday 17^th April 2019

What a beautiful Spring day to be working outdoors in the Yorkshire Dales! The daffodils were glorious in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church in Conistone-with-Kilnsey as we started on our detailed survey of the gravestones.

The lovely ancient church was extensively renovated by the Victorians but still retains its charm and some of its Norman features. Outside there have obviously been many removals of headstones over the centuries but there are some nice 18^th Century examples, including a few chest tombs on the south side. 

The idea was to start right away on the RTI of the latter as they are at risk of becoming so weathered as to be illegible. But there were technical difficulties with the camera and flash unit and poor Alan had to give up after a long morning of trying to put it right.

But he cheered up after a long lunch break basking in the sunshine, while we discussed deep thoughts about the nature of history and the changing nature of moral values over the centuries, and to what extent we can impose our own moral judgments on past society. 

We had a short afternoon continuing the general surveying that had been going on through the morning – measuring, recording and photographing gravestone by gravestone. We only had one visitor to the churchyard but Sue had a nice, interesting chat with her. It’s always a bonus when visitors are interested in our churchyard project.  

Overall, despite the RTI setback, we had a good day.

Jane Lunnon