If you travel to Forres, as Shakespeare’s Macbeth did in the Scottish play, you will come across a strange, supernatural thing. Just like he did. Not in a cavern with a boiling cauldron in the middle, not on a wild eerie heath but right in the present everyday normality in front of Forres’ police station:... Continue Reading →
If stones could talk, what stories could the Isle of Skye tell. Some stones can talk and do so loudly for those who care to listen. Hidden among low trees next to the ruined chapel of St. John's in Caroy lies a tiny old graveyard, amidst the dense foliage a number of new graves have been... Continue Reading →
Glen Strathfarrar is a very remote Glen in the Scottish Highlands. Visitors with a car are only allowed access at certain times (especially in winter), a potholed single track road leads deep into the mountains. The glen still has all the unspoiled beauty of a picture book Highland scenery with all the harshness, that comes... Continue Reading →
Truth is eternal. Death is the last truth. The end of every man’s life is the common denominator. We all share and face eventually one truth: death. Man’s longing for individuality and uniqueness on the other hand generate a need to differ, even in death. Graveyards are in most Middle European cultures a very diverse... Continue Reading →
Flames licking, devouring, purifying, killing. Fire rituals have played a vital role among many cultures in the past. The Vikings sent burning ships into the sea, the Indians burned widows and the Roman Catholics witches. Few of the Rituals have survived in Scotland, the Up Helly Aa on Shetland and the Burning of the Clavie at... Continue Reading →
Their beauty lies in their simplicity: ancient stone slabs and crosses keep memory alive. Some of the most beautiful in the Western Highlands are kept in Lochaline in Morvern on a graveyard known as Kiel or Cille Cholumchille, the church of St Columba of the church, that overlooks the Sound of Mull. The holy man... Continue Reading →
It rises out of the turf covered earth like some vast creature from ancient times. The mound at Levenwick faces the sea in a sandy beached bay south of Lerwick on Shetland Mainland. In the midst of sheep filled fields it is a strange sight, the gravestones stand solid on that mound and access is... Continue Reading →
The sea is a dangerous friend, a deadly beauty and an undiscriminating killer. Even on calm days people have drowned in the waters around the islands of the North. When the autumn storms set in, the mighty waves will have had a deadly feast in the past. Many a body washed ashore on Shetland around... Continue Reading →
A faith so strong urged them to leave Ireland and bring it to those who knew nothing of it. The early missionaries brought the Christian faith not only to Scotland but via Scotland to Europe. A mission like no other in the 7th century. Columba went to Iona to found a monastery that turned into... Continue Reading →
There is something special and sad about the first body interred in a graveyard. Local legend has it, that the first body in the graveyard of Quarff on Shetland Mainland was a stranger. Nobody knew who he was. A dead body the sea had brought in. The local fishermen buried him more or less where... Continue Reading →
Lindisfarne graveyard on Holy Island, Northumberland, symbolizes centuries of faith and history, overlooking Lindisfarne Priory’s ruins. A significant site since the 7th century, it holds the remains of islanders and clergy. The graveyard fosters reflection and connection to St Cuthbert, attracting visitors seeking inspiration and tranquility amid a sacred legacy.
Bamburgh, with its dramatic coastal setting and rich history, has revealed yet another fascinating chapter of its past. Decades of dedicated research by the Bamburgh Research Project and Durham University, in collaboration with the Bamburgh Castle Estate, have shed light on the lives of Anglo-Saxons who inhabited this area over a thousand years ago. The […]
Grace Darling, born in 1815, became famous for her courageous sea rescue of Forfarshire survivors in 1838. She passed away in 1842 and is buried in Bamburgh, where a monument marks her legacy. Celebrated in literature and art, her story inspires future generations, symbolizing bravery and compassion.
Graveyards of Scotland 
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