Relatives campaigning to save a historic graveyard are appealing for a charity to buy the site - for £1.

The fate of Westgate Hill Cemetery still hangs in the balance after Methodist leaders revealed last year they want to sell the land.

Now a group of about 20 relatives of those buried in the cemetery have formed a committee and are seeking a charity to help maintain the graves.

Committee spokeswoman Mary Bowford of Baildon said they feared the land would be built on and graves would be disturbed.

But the Reverend Brian Bullick of Cleckheaton, the contact person for the issue, said in a letter that the church would be willing to sell on the graveyard to a charity for £1.

"Now we are desperate to find a charity who would be willing to take it on," said Mrs Bowford.

"We are also proposing for students from Bradford College to come along and keep the cemetery tidy."

Mrs Bowford added: "There are four generations of my family buried there.

"Although I can appreciate that the site has become overgrown and dangerous, something has to be done about it."

The 55-year-old said she had also been doing research into the graves and discovered one of them belonged to a well-known Wesleyan minister.

"The Reverend William Branwell was a famous minister in these parts. He died on August 13, 1818, and was buried at Westgate Hill," she added.

"He's another reason why we should do all we can to keep the graveyard as a graveyard."

Last year the Birstall and Spen circuit of the Methodist church advertised plans to record details of tombstones, monuments and memorials.

At a heated meeting with a church minister in October last year it was revealed the land could go up for sale.

The cemetery in Westgate Hill Street was part of the Wesleyan Church before the building was pulled down 25 years ago.

Mr Bullick said the graveyard should have been sorted out when the sale went through.

"We are more than ready for someone to take it off our hands and would be willing to sell it on to a charity for £1, or anyone for that matter who would administer it," he said.

He said he had been in touch with a landscaper to have the site tidied up.