Passionate visitors of graves and graveyards often have favourite stones - stones with ornate decoration, touching epitaphs or extravagant lichen covering, stones that hold personal memories. A stone can express many things for those who erect them as well as for those who them. But stones can also be tools. There is a certain species... Continue Reading →
overcoming finality on Acharacle graveyard Death is final. But some graveyards on closer inspection show sings of overcoming that ultimate finality. Human endeavor is a powerful force that can last longer than a lifetime. In a way everything on a graveyard is there to overcome finality: gravestones not only mark graves, they are solid reminders... Continue Reading →
Craig Dunain, old lunatic asylum Inverness Do places keep a sense of pain, a sense of the fear and anger that was once felt there? Can fear linger in stone and wood? Can a house keep the horror that once was felt there? Does an abandoned lunatic asylum still hold some sense of insanity?... Continue Reading →
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many... Continue Reading →
It is a hard guess how many Highlanders died on the moors of their country, it must have been thousands over the centuries. Large as their number might be, the agony and fear of the warriors dying in battle will have been a very personal experience, lives ended on the moors. They died for their... Continue Reading →
"Last” is a word that comes up automatically whenever one thinks of graveyards and death; the last day of ones life is a scary concept and an overwhelming one as well. Just one last thought, one last breath, one last second and then….. What would it be like to face your last hour when you... Continue Reading →
St. Mary’s Chapel yard in Inverness, an ancient burial ground right in the heart of the Highland’s capital, is but rarely visited, being somehow hidden behind high walls. Chapel Yard is one of three ancient burial grounds in Inverness and probably dates back as far as 1233. In the early days two churches with the... Continue Reading →
Hugh Miller was born 1st January 1802, a new year that brought a new and influential life to the community of Cromarty, a small seaport on the Cromarty Firth. Hugh was passionate about stones and became a stone mason’s apprentice as soon as he was old enough. Later his ambitions became more refined, he studied geology.... Continue Reading →
In the early years of the 17th century, hardly any Catholic priests were left in Scotland, the country was Protestant to its core and the old religion nearly wiped out. Nearly but not completely. Those few who had kept their faith, had to practice their religion secretly after the reformation. In areas where a few... Continue Reading →
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 →
In the heart of Rastatt lies a quiet green space beside the modern clinic. At first glance, the Alter Friedhof Rastatt – the Old Cemetery of Rastatt – appears to be little more than a peaceful park. Yet beneath its trees rests one of the most politically charged memorial sites in Baden. Here, the stories […]
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 […]
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