The end of the world
It is the end of the world. At least as far as Google Maps is concerned. It is literally the end of the road, however. You will need to park your car somewhere near then old red phone box and cross the old stone bridge across the Berriedale Water to access the Braemore Estate.
A short walk along the river takes you to a few farm buildings until to your right the pathway to the Braemore burial ground emerges. It is small and not in use any longer, but beautifully situated in this rural setting.
women in beds
As is so often the case – a beautiful and remote place in Scotland has an interesting and cruel history. This is a tale of women taken from bed, taken to beds, staying in them and refusing to leave them. Sound rather cryptic? Here’s the story:
Robert Gun of Braemore
In the 15th century he Braemore taksman Robert Gun fancies the wife of William Sutherland. So he shoots him with his bow, and takes the wife from her bed, puts her and her infant child in a basket and takes them home to Braemore with him. Why the basket does not become clear. The woman takes to her abductor and quickly forgets about her husband and father of her child. She not only stays with him and has two sons with him.
William Sutherland of Langwell
Her first son she named William after her murdered husband. Nice move indeed. Young William grows into a strong and confident young man, which might be mainly down to the fact that he is allegedly 9 feet tall. He is soon uttering threats against those who killed his father. That obviously makes the murderous stepfather rather uncomfortable, and he offers his sister, William’s step aunt, as a wife. William does not much fancy the idea.
One night, after a big party, the woman is put in the bed with her drunken nephew. Come morning she lies that a marriage has taken place and she is his lawful wife. Obviously, William is not amused. To calm him down, his stepfather offers him the estate of Langwell. But because it is not his to give, he has to evict the old and weak owner Hector More first. A task soon accomplished.
to war to escape the wife
Still, William is not very happy about his circumstances and decides to go war to escape the wife. He follows the Earl of Caithness to Orkney to quell a rebellion there. It is not known, what his “wife” thought about it. Nor what beds he slept in while away.
Source and further reading: R. Forsyth, The Beauties of Scotland, Volume V, Edinburgh, 1808, John Brown
Liked the read? There’s more here…
The stories of this book have been discovered and gathered for my blog, Graveyards of Scotland, over many years. Find treasure all over Scotland with my latest book. I am Nellie Merthe Erkenbach, journalist and author.The fairy hill in Inverness, a nitrate murder on Shetland, a family of left-handers, wolves, Robert the Bruce and William Wallace shown in a new light, the secret bay of the writer Gavin Maxwell, a murdering poet and so many things you didn’t know about Scotland, its clans and its history.
My main sources were historical travel guides from the 18th and 19th centuries, where the finds were scary, beautiful, funny, and sometimes, cruel.
This unusual approach to a country’s history has produced amazing results. You don’t have to share my passion for cemeteries to enjoy this book; only a small number of the stories in this collection take place in graveyards, though they do all end in them, so perhaps it helps.
Graveyards of Scotland 
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