"One of St John’s priorities is to care for the world in which we live. We are concerned both about species loss and climate change, are attempting to address both as part of our Christian mission. 
We are registered as an Eco-Church and have received a bronze award. We have proudly won Silver Status. 
Our award winning churchyard is managed for maximum biodiversity and is designated a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. It is considered to be one of the best churchyards in the country for environmental management. We like to view ourselves as an ‘ark’ for vulnerable species."

THE CHURCHYARD OF ST JOHN'S SHAROW

The churchyard of St John’s is a beautiful community space. It provides a rare sanctuary for MG5 grassland and many wildflowers. Over the last 25 years, the churchwardens and local volunteers have worked hard to establish a conservation area for the community.

​The churchyard is still open for burials but it performs many functions besides. With the introduction of Heritage Lottery Funding, the church has been able to expand it’s environmental remit, replacing strimmers with scythes and gaining the eco-church award. We are the proud recipient of the fifth Eco Church Award within the Leeds Diocese.

A tour...

St John’s Church has one of the largest open churchyards in the area, which divides naturally into various sections. Perhaps the best way to view it is to start at the gate on Berrygate Lane. For a moment take a look at the sandstone boundary wall from the 1820's.

From the pedestrian gate, glance up the path towards the church. If you are here in April or May you could be treated to a fine display of blooms on the rhododendron bushes which line this footpath ~ always depending upon the weather! To the east ‘B’ is a closed cemetery ~ no more burials are permitted here. Many of the graves have strong Copt Hewick connections as this was the graveyard for Holy Innocents Church in the village some three miles east of Sharow. Through the good offices of local naturalists a management regime was drawn up in the early 1990s to enable wildlife, and especially wild flowers, to flourish. In the spring the grass is cut but between April and August only a narrow verge and limited walkways are cut. This enables a multitude of wild plants to flower and seed thus ensuring their continuance from year to year. In June 2000 this area was awarded first prize in the Millennium Celebration Competition sponsored by Yorkshire Electricity and The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for a churchyard managed sympathetically for wildlife. An oak display stand marks the event. Explore this area and enjoy its natural beauty but please keep to the cut paths so as not to disturb the flora or fauna. Behind the boundary yew trees are box, cypress and holly whilst towards the extreme SE corner are oak, lime and hazel. The eastern boundary has a number of old lime tress and some holly. This conservation area stretches northwards as far as the church and the grave with iron railings.

yContinuing towards the rear of the church we arrive at the current burial area. Here the eastern boundary has sycamore and wild cherry trees whilst along the northern boundary is a beach hedge.

To the north west, stand neat rows of headstones bearing witness to the memory of some 250 men and women who served in our armed forces and spent their last years in the beautiful surroundings of Sharow. This is a British Legion Cemetery. Lister House, a British Legion home, was opened in Sharow in 1950. Formerly the property had been a private residence and then during the second world war was occupied by the military. In the mid 1980s the home was relocated to a new purpose built property in Ripon and Lister House in Sharow, now renamed Fairlawns, was developed into a number of private residences. During these thirty some years Lister House in Sharow was a home for disabled and aged ex servicemen and an important part of the village.

Situated in the area west of the church is a tombstone in the form of a pyramid. This is described separately.

From here, continuing round the front of the church and back to the tarmac path are located graves dating back to the earliest days of the church.

In the garden areas immediately under the walls of the church ‘G’ there is space dedicated for burying ashes following cremation.

From time to time we have had sheep in the churchyard to graze on the grass and help keep it under control.

​Visitors to our fine village church, it is generally open between 10 am and 4 pm, will find descriptive leaflets available in the church.

The Pyramid of Sharow 

"In memory of
JESSIE PIAZZI SMYTH
Daughter of Thomas Duncan, the dear wife of Charles
Piazzi Smyth L.L.D. Ed. Late Astronomer Royal for Scotland
Who was his faithful and sympathetic friend and companion
Through 40 years of varied Scientific experiences by land and sea abroad as well as at home at 12 000 feet up in the atmosphere on the wind swept Peak of Teneriffe as well as underneath and Upon the GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT
Until she fell asleep in the LORD JESUS CHRIST
At Clova Ripon on the 24th day of March 1896 aged 80."

On the western edge of our churchyard stands an unusual tombstone in the shape of a miniature pyramid, topped with a cross. It commemorates Charles Piazzi Smyth, sometimes known as the pyramid man; and his wife Jessie Piazzi Smyth who accompanied him on many of his expeditions as he travelled around the world in pursuit of knowledge and discovery.
Charles Piazzi Smyth was born in Naples, Italy on 3rd January 1819 to British parents Admiral William Henry and Eliza Anne ‘Annarella’ Smyth. They gave Charles the middle name Piazzi after his Godfather, Guiseppe Piazzi, who was an Italian astronomer. Admiral Smyth was himself an amateur astronomer and on the family’s return to Bedford, England he built an observatory, which is where Charles had his first lessons in astronomy and where he developed a knowledge and love of the science. It is interesting to note that Admiral Smyth was the maternal Grandfather of Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting Movement; making Charles an uncle of Baden-Powell.

​At the age of sixteen Charles gained a position as assistant to Sir Thomas Maclear in the Cape of Good Hope, giving him the chance to observe various astronomical spectacles, including Halley’s Comet . He worked in Cape Town from 1835 to 1845 and during his time there he established a reputation for astronomical drawing and the use of photography.
After a decade in South Africa, but still only in his mid-twenties, Charles Piazzi Smyth was successful in his application as Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. A year later he was appointed Astronomer Royal for Scotland, a post he held for 43 years.

In 1856 he partitioned the Admiralty for a grant to enable him to test out Sir Isaac Newton’s theory (of 1704) that higher altitude was needed for a clearer view of the sky. He was given £500 and set out on a scientific voyage cum honeymoon, with his wife Jessica, to Mount Teide in Tenerife to test out the theory. The theory was proved and Charles’s findings were reported to the Admiralty and included in several scholarly articles.

However, it is with the Great Pyramid of Gizeh that his name will probably always be remembered. In 1864 he travelled to Egypt to measure and study the pyramid. He took measurements of the surface, angles and dimensions, as well as the longitude and latitude. He used a specially designed camera to take photographs of the inside of the pyramid which are some of the earliest known. Amongst his various publications were, ‘Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid’ (1864) and ‘Life and Work at the Great Pyramid’ (1867).

He resigned his Fellowship of the Royal Society in protest of underfunding and because they had refused to publish his papers on pyramid research; but there are still hundreds of entries under his name in the Royal Society’s Catalogue of Scientific Papers.

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He carried out important scientific research in cooperation with Professor A S Herschel and in 1880 he received the MacDougal-Brisbane Prize after constructing a map of the solar-spectrum. Charles advanced the science of Spectroscopy; started the first-time signal from Calton Hill; organised over fifty meteorological stations in Scotland; made numerous astronomical experiments; and many inventive designs.

​He retired to Ripon in 1888 where he lived until his death on 21st February 1900.

​He would, no doubt, have been gratified to know that a crater on the moon now bears his name. The ‘Piazzi Smyth’ is a small lunar impact crater located near a solitary moon mountain called Mons Piton. A fitting tribute to an amazing man.