Here lies an old woman wrapt in her linen, Mother to James and Thomas Binnen; Who for want of a coffin was buried in a girnal (meal-chest), The earth got the shell, and the De'il got the kernal. Raymond Lamont-Brown: Scottish Epitaphs. Chambers, Edinburgh, 1990
grave loss
Strontian, Ardnamurchan, the Parish church built in the 1820s by Thomas Telford, one of 32 churches built in thinly populated areas, but there is more to be found on this graveyard. The gravestone of Roderick and Mary Gordon and their sons Adam and James sits here, quietly telling a sad story. The Gordon family lived... Continue Reading →
Aberdeen Churchyard
Here lie the bones of Elisabeth Charlotte, Born a virgin, died a harlot. She was aye a virgin at seventeen, A remarkable thing in Aberdeen. Raymond Lamont-Brown: Scottish Epitaphs. Edinburgh, Chambers; 1990
Nightmare at Nellfield
Nellfield Cemetery, a large graveyard that goes back to the first half of the 19th century. Hidden away behind high walls in Aberdeen’s west end, the cemetery seems to hide a history that is not a pleasant one. In the summer of 1899, at six o’clock in the morning, official excavations disrupted the peace and... Continue Reading →
William Wallace’s fourth part
The Scottish warrior and hero of a nation was captured by the English and suffered an atrocious death. Taken to London and hanged, drawn and quartered, his head was put up on London Bridge, the four parts of the body taken to four different places of the realm: Berwick, Perth, Newcastle seem certain. The fourth... Continue Reading →
The Snow Kirk
What is now a graveyard, hidden away in the grounds of the University of Aberdeen, was once a church: The Snow Kirk. A rather unusual name for a church in Scotland. It goes back to Rome and the Basilica Santa Maria Magggiore, also known as Sancta Maria Maggiore ad Nives, Saint Mary of the Snows.... Continue Reading →
grave warren
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 →
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