Wednesday 11 January 2012

Manor Graveyard

Despite the grey day and overcast skies, there was still a spring in my step when I entered Manor graveyard near Peebles. It is by no means the most beautifully located of the graveyards I've visited so far and the church is relatively new (and still in service) but there was still a lot to see and admire here. The graveyard is located on a road which eventually becomes a dead end. I have promised myself a return visit in better weather conditions to follow the road up into the hills, where I'm guessing the views will be fabulous.

This is the gravestone for which Manor Graveyard is mainly known. It's very politically incorrect, as it's dedicated to David Ritchie, more commonly known as the Black Dwarf, who died in 1811, although this monument wasn't erected till 1845. He was the inspiration for the book by the same name, written by Sir Walter Scott, and has an entire website dedicated to himself which you can find here. And he's also on Facebook (I mean to say!) and in Wikipedia.

He wanted to be buried in a peaceful place but sadly there is a busy goods yards next to the graveyard with a lot of very noisy earth moving equipment in operation. Definitely not something that contributes to peace and quiet. You can see a bit of the buildings behind the gravestone, just over the wall, as I couldn't screen it out completely out of the picture.



This was my favourite image for the day (and thus also became my blip). I found it on the side of a tablestone grave belonging to James Fotheringham, tenant, in Boghouse, with some of his sons and daughters as well as his wife Agnes Salton. It dates back to 1763. What a skull, it looks truely menacing, and the bone is incredibly substantial. The table stone was raised on very bulbous little pillars, six of them in total. On the other side I also found a winged hourglass.

The Angels of the Resurrection, blowing on their horns to announce this happy event, are a rare find on gravestones. So far I've only come across them a few times before so I was really lovely to see this stone, which also features a skull at the bottom
This is another deeply engraved skull image plus bone. I have the feeling the Memento Mori inscription was a later addition, probably in Victorian times, as they were particularly keen on this reminder that we are all going to die.

Finally this splendid monument in a railed enclosure was erected by William Alexander Forrester of Barns in honour of his parents in 1843. He was later buried there himself too. The words read: Blow hunter thy horn.

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