The austere pyramid is an unusual sight and certainly an uncommon style for am mausoleum in Scotland. The reason being not an architectural fancy or fashion but the stong faith of its creator - Francis Wemyss Charteris was a Freemason The mausoleum was built between 1795 and 1798. Thomas Harrison of Lancaster assisted. It was a precicely thought through built. The look of simplicity is devceiving, there is more to it than meets the eye. Tributes have been paid to Masonic symbology, numerology and geometry. Here are just a few examples.
burial place of the drowned
The sea has taken lives all around Scotland and many bodies have been washed on her shores over the centuries. This is a burial ground that takes its origin in lives lost at sea, situated closely to the dazzling and deadly blue waves of Scotland's shores.
Funny Scottish Epitaph: the cattle thief
Beneath this stone lies Peter White For all the ills he got the wight, for steeling sheep, and kye and corn, the like of him was never known. Raymond Lamont-Brown: Scottish Epitaphs. Chambers, Edinburgh, 1990
clan burial customs
MacSorlie graveyard Glen Nevis MacSorlie graveyard in Glen Nevis A Scottish clan is a group of people wo believe they share the same ancestor. A clan is far more than family. In the Highlands they were a political unit as well, a source of support and defence. A sept or a branch, however, is somthing... Continue Reading →
keys to the graves
It is not unusual, to find a Scottish graveyard locked up overnight, especially in city centres. Too much damage and destruction has happened in the past and is still happening today. Vandals causing even more grief for the families of the deceased by damaging ground and headstones alike. Drug and alcohol use are also frequent problems on graveyards in urban environments. Historical churchyards are often locked by the councils and taphophiles will often try in vain to gain access. Locking them up of course often seems feasible, after all, there is no need to visit a churchyard for example at night.
Dunino’s pagan past
Dunino church is ancient and has been an ancient place of worship. In the long past days of old Celtic faith, a stone circle marked forgotten rites. It was, as have been many Celtic customs, incorporated into the church. But there are more traces of the past to be found here and more intriguing ones at that.
a traditional Highland funeral
Christina Cochran Blacklock’s funeral was the last traditional Highland funeral in the Kingairloch district. On Christmas Day 1924, Christina Cochran, nee Blacklock, died in Fort William at the age of 82. She had survived her husband, master mariner Alexander Cochran, her daughter Helen and her son James Duncan. Her granddaughter died a few years after the grandmother. Her grandson, Rev Henry Dyall, did not attend the funeral, but he had often heard the accounts of family and neighbours.
the killer lady’s missing husband
Lochaber has many graveyards to offer, quite a number of them are private burial grounds, that belong to some landlord or other, as is the case with „The Field of the Church“, Dail na Cille. This one and the landlord that once owned it, are particularly interesting.
when darkness slowly spreads its wings
Because of its proximity to the sea and the staggering beauty of the maltitude of skulls and crossbones on the table stones, St Regulus graveyard is sometimes called the pirates' graveyard. There is, however, no evidence of pirates buried here. It is nevertheless an amazing place of rememberance and well worth a visit.
tree of life
A church, a graveyard, a hotel and several holiday cottages, that is, according to Wikipedia, the extent of Kirkton of Glenisla in Angus. The above-mentioned graveyard is a beautiful one, with old stones and serene views. There are many trees within the graveyard and that has a reason, in Kirkton of Glenisla, trees are planted... Continue Reading →
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