Cold, red sandstone against the pale blue water of the Moray Firth: Fort George. Mighty resting place, where the walls tower massively over a vast star-shaped ground. At the back of the promontory, close to the sea, is the garrison’s chapel. It commemorates the dead of the past as well as the present. Fort... Continue Reading →
If ever there was holy ground, it surely is to be found on a small island of striking beauty and breathtaking light in the Ross of Mull: Iona, burial-place of the kings. To many Iona is an overcoming experience. It was here that Christianity made its way into Scotland. Irish monasteries have existed for centuries... Continue Reading →
The story of Rob Roy MacGregor is well known in Scotland, it is part of the old lore, history and childhood. A man who had joined the Jacobite Rising at the age of 18 and was badly wounded in the battle of Glen Shiel 1719. He was a fighter and a cattleman, selling rich Lowlanders... Continue Reading →
To be remembered is its major purpose; a graveyard has one central aim: to preserve the memory of loved ones gone. Its nucleus, heart or core or whatever you want to call it, is memory. If the last trace of those buried there is gone, a graveyard has lost its innermost purpose. Forgotten graves! It... Continue Reading →
I close my eyes and a smile lights my face. Light lights my face and warms my skin. This is bliss. A blackbird is singing, the air is full of chirp and twitter, I can hear the burn nearby gurgling happily towards the sea that sends a warm salty smell from the bay. After so... Continue Reading →
Death has no form, no shape, no pattern, texture or layout. Graveyards do. They have quite distinct forms, shapes and patterns. So do gravestones. It is an angular world the dead are buried in: regular walled rectangles, or squares, even; occasionally later editions forming triangles or yet another rectangle. A straight line of graves seems... 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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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