the last of his line

“Last” is a word that comes up automatically whenever one thinks of graveyards and death; the last day of ones life is a scary concept and an overwhelming one as well. Just one last thought, one last breath, one last second and then…..

What would it be like to face your last hour when you are the last of a line, when no one follows, when your name will only be remembered by a few still alive and a gravestone that covers your remains?

For royalty and aristocracy it is a devastating thought because death not only concerns the name, it also concerns the estate that will the go from your family to somebody else’s. To be the last of your line is a financial transaction as well.

Did John Mudie of Pitmuies think of all that when he died 1877? He will have. He was 65 years of age and would leave the estate of Pitmuies, his other possessions and wealth to Leonard Lord Lyell of Pitmuies, who belonged to the family of Kinnordy.

Right in the middle of various fields now belonging to what is known the Balgavies estate in Angus there is an ancient graveyard, it is not signposted nor is it easy to find. The interred here belonged to the estate in various ways, the oldest gravestones date back as far as the early 17^th century.

An old and forgotten place since the last of the Pitmuies was put to rest here. A stone sarcophagus underneath a dead tree marks the end of him and his line, John Mudie of Pitmuies.

Nothing lasts forever!