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 →
We all take it one day or the other: the last road. Some go fast, some slow: for some it winds and meanders through time, for others it ends in a short and straight line. Whatever the last road looks like, to each and one of us, we all take it in the end -... 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 →
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 →
“Bar the door and burn the church down.” murmured the MacDonald through the sound of singing, that oozed through the walls of the little church. The sun was out, the wind forcefully as ever, making the long haired raiders look even more fierce. They held their weapons ready, at the back of the church, away... Continue Reading →
It was a cold and cloudy morning in the beginning of October 1942. Few men had remained in the village of Lower Breakish. The war wore heavy on the people of Skye. They did not know what waited for them at the beaches of the island. They did not know, what they would soon have... 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 →
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 →
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 […]
Grace Darling, born in 1815, became famous for her courageous sea rescue of Forfarshire survivors in 1838. She passed away in 1842 and is buried in Bamburgh, where a monument marks her legacy. Celebrated in literature and art, her story inspires future generations, symbolizing bravery and compassion.
Graveyards of Scotland 
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