The Hart Stone The Hart Stone is a heartbreaking testimony to the harsh and often deadly conditions in the time of the Jacobite Rising in Scotland. Romantically portrayed in Diana Gabbaldon’s novels and Outlander, but these times were not easy to survive in, especially when there was no nurse from the future attending the sick.... Continue Reading →
Former glory, a term often applied to buildings, to countries, to people and it is hardly less appropriately used for graveyards. Where else to ponder about former glory but on a graveyard on a dreich day, the very place that changes things and signifies the end to almost everything. Bo’ness’s original name is Borrowstouness but... Continue Reading →
Larbert Old Parish Kirkyard Larbert Old Parish Kirkyard has a number of very interesting gravestones, interesting for various reasons but there is one that conjures amazing images, smells and sounds of a far away world; it tells of travel, adventures and discoveries. The gravestone of James Muir. Richly decorated stones can be admired throughout the... Continue Reading →
grave of William Wallace’s faithful friend Sir John de Graeme Mente manuque potens et Vallae fidus Achates, Conditur hic Gramus, bello interfectus ab Anglis. 22. Julii anno 1298 Here lies Graham, strong alike in head and hand. The faithlful friend of Wallace. He was slain in battle by the English, 22nd July 1298. William Wallace... Continue Reading →
When at the end of the Second World War the United States of America and the Russian Federation divided the Japanese occupied Korea into North and South, the conflict was by no means at an end. North Korea, with the authorisation of Josef Stalin, invaded South Korea to bring the south under communist rule. The... Continue Reading →
This is an old and bloody story, told among the people of Brig o’ Turk about a brave Scottish woman fighting an English soldier. The woman was one Ellen Stewart or Stuart, and she defended herself and the other women of the glen in a true Highlands way. Ellen Stewart’s great grandson, who lived in Brig... Continue Reading →
Here lies Nothing. The impious Resurrectionist At night dared to invade This quiet spot, and upon it Successful inroads made. And when to relatives the fact Distinctly did appear. The stone was placed to tell the world, There's Nothing resting here. A headstone placed on a grave where a snatched body should have been.... Continue Reading →
This world is a citie Ful of streets, And death ye mercat That al men meets. If lyfe were a thing, That monie could Buy, the puir could Not live, and ye rich would not die. (Elgin) Hamish Brown: A Scottish Graveyard Miscellany. Birlinn, Edinburgh; 2008
The name Ollaberry derives from Old Norse Olarfsberg, the hill of Olaf. It is a small settlement on the Northmavine peninsula of Shetland Mainland, the land north of the isthmus Mavis Grind. Northmavind offers spectacular views. There is arable land around Ollaberry but the sea still is and always has been both livelihood and death... Continue Reading →
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