St John's Church, Baildon

My camera club had an outing to St John's Church, Baildon. It's only ten minutes drive for me, an easy trip. I've been in the church before, usually when there has been a festival of some sort and lots of other people about, so it was good to have the freedom to use a tripod, with just a handful of fellow photographers all trying to be thoughtful and not photo-bomb each other's pictures. 

I explored the churchyard. Many of the older gravestones have been moved to allow easier maintenance of the lawns, and either placed around the perimeter or laid flat as paving stones. It has a stunning view across to Idle, with the masts on Idle Hill which relay TV and radio signals from the main transmitter at Emley Moor. There is, incidentally, a trig point up on Idle Hill too. 

The gravestones include a few larger Victorian monuments and some were nestled among the plants, which I quite liked.  

You don't have to spend long exploring such places before stumbling across heartbreaking stories. Here's a gravestone commemorating five young children from the same family:

1851 Christiana Peel, aged 1 year 3 months - and in the same month, her sister Mary Dinah Peel aged 2 years 7 months,

1855 Benjamin Holmes Peel aged 5 months

1859 (just before Christmas) Frances Ellener Peel aged 3 years 

1886 Clara Eleanor Townend (granddaughter) aged 1 year 9 months and another Ellenor that I can't quite read (possibly the mother?)