Restoration of Raikes Road Burial Ground

Once a forgotten wasteland, the burial ground was restored as a peaceful place for Skipton residents.

The project has unearthed a very personal connection with the past for local people and has opened a doorway to a Victorian attitude to life and death. 

The volunteers worked to clear and restore the landscape and part of that work involved wildlife surveys that revealed brown long-eared bats, moth flies and even water shrews - a quarter of a mile from running water. 

The community also carried out research for the project, making exciting discoveries in libraries, carrying out wildlife surveys, archaeological digs and even, using hi-tech methods, deciphering fading gravestone inscriptions. Stories of the people buried there, including Kipling’s grandparents, have led to the burial ground reclaiming its importance in the community.

Les Chandler, Friends of Raikes Road Burial Ground, said: "Local people and from further afield have taken the burial ground to their hearts, knowing that their relatives are interred there.

"That link’s important because it means people have an investment in the area and its remarkable wildlife and history.”