Secrets of a country churchyard

Our English village churches are a real delight and travellers around the rural areas are often drawn to the interesting architecture of these old buildings full of character.

The temptation is to ignore the surrounding churchyards, the inscriptions on the gravestones which so often reveal rich secrets of the folk who have lived and died there.

This photo was an afterthought, taken outside St John's, Alkmonton, Derbyshire. From some angles the headstones look like grinning goblins and the gnarled old treetrunk must have tales to tell.....