Scotland for Quiet Moments is not a standard travel guide. You’ll find no references to the main tourist destinations or opening times. Rather, it leads you to largely unknown, quiet places. In its pages, you will find a plethora of historical, strange, romantic and funny stories from across the centuries, which will lead you to... Continue Reading →
Scotland is a country full of history, stories and secrets. Often, the three cannot be separated. That is what makes this country so wonderful and unique. These stories have been discovered and gathered for Erkenbach’s blog, Graveyards of Scotland, over many years. Her main sources were historical travel guides from the 18th and 19th centuries,... Continue Reading →
You need to know what you are looking for to be able to find the two stones in Dailly that prove to be various things, sanctuary, measure of strength, and indication of ownership. Old Dailly Church They lie within the ruin of the church of Old Dailly. Her long history of religious worship came to... Continue Reading →
An intricate Adam and Eve stone displays the figures of Adam and eve, angels playing the trumpet, an hour glass, a bible and a plough with oxen complete this interesting example dating back to 1758. The symbolism is complex, the first awareness of death came according to the Bible to mankind through Adam and Eve.... Continue Reading →
St Clement’s church, Rodel, Isle of Harris St Clement’s was built as a catholic church under David I, probably by one of the MacLeods of Harris but falling into disuse soon after completion. The Reformation had put an end to Catholicism on the island. It had most likely been a priory, two allegedly excisted on... Continue Reading →
This graveyard is a very peaceful one, snuggling between the river and the old town of Callander, the Parish church is long gone. But there is a small building in the old graveyard wall, that tells a gruesome story. Not by day but by night. Callander old kirkyard once was haunted by very creepy... Continue Reading →
mortsafes in Logierait churchyard, Perthshire Considering things from a 21st century point of view it seems rather obvious: few things in life are as safe as a dead body. Who would want to steal a corpse? These days probably very few people. It is nothing really you can sell anywhere and where there is no... Continue Reading →
But what if it wasn’t?? This is the story of Donald Robertson who died at the age of 63 and was put to rest at Cross Kirk Cemetery in Eshaness on Shetland. So far there is nothing sinister or intriguing about the story. It was the year 1848, a time for fascinating discoveries in medicine,... Continue Reading →
Funeral rites are sombre, grave and placid; at least in most European countries they are. Scotland can be a very different matter when it comes to burying the dead. Funerals are sometimes full of humour, drink and the sharing of reminiscences with a smile. In Petty, just about 7 miles outside Inverness, the mourners would... Continue Reading →
Entering Inverness from the South, the traveller passes a small, wooded hill with a peculiar shape that rises steep behind the Caledonian Canal: Tomnahurich. A large burial ground with old graves on the hill and newer ones circling it. Nothing spectacular seems to hide behind the high gates of Tomnahurich. For those who do not... Continue Reading →
Graveyards of Scotland 
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