The bass of Inverurie and Inverurie cemetery face a furry and rather cute danger – rabbits. They seem to be everywhere in this large ground between the wild banks of the river Ury and Reithhall Road. The Norman Motte and Bailey castle that once stood here must have commanded the glen with power... Continue Reading →
fairy hill
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 →
moss and lichen
The words moss and lichen made it very early into my vocabulary, I am not a native English speaker and moss and lichen seem rather unusual words for a foreigner to know. But then again, for a foreigner who delights in Scottish cemeteries, it is not such an unusual vocabulary after all, because moss and... Continue Reading →
abandoned graves – Kildonan, Little Loch Broom
There is no trace of Kildonan on Google Maps to be found. If you know where to look (57.865564,-5.235921), you can see the outlines of what used to be houses and barns. Kildonan is gone because the people of Kildonan had to go. How hard and frugal their lives must have been. Cold and desolate... Continue Reading →
melancholy
But when the melancholy fit shall fall Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, That fosters the droop-headed flowers all, And hides the green hill in an April shroud; Ode on Melancholy, John Keats (1795 - 1821), The Oxford Book of English Verse If you love Keats, Shelley and Byron you surely must love graveyards.... Continue Reading →
Eilean Munde – graveyard island
Near the shores of Loch Leven, close to the road up towards Glencoe rises a small island out of the cold tidal waters. On a sunny day in summer the lush grass smells of herbs, the rough song of the crickets creates a somehow Italian atmosphere. No bridge or ferry connects the island full of... Continue Reading →
John Knox monument, Glasgow Necropolis Set in stern stone against a bleak winter sky seems a most appropriate form of existence for a man like John Knox. If one is willing to attribute an existence to a monument. His monumental influence on religion is Scotland is widely known. As well as his fear and abhorence... Continue Reading →


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