A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Body Snatchers

In the early days of medical learning, the only way to "see" the inside of a body was to open it up. There were no xrays, CT scans, 3d replicas or simulators. And of course, there was a far greater demand for bodies than bodies available. 

Although the Anatomy Act allowed for the bodies of hanged criminals or the homeless to be used for dissection, there were still not enough bodies to go around. So, digging up bodies became quite a lucrative business. 

When we think of Scotland and body snatchers, most think of Burke and Hare. However, Burke and Hare were not grave robbers but rather serial killers. Their bodies were incredibly "fresh" because they never actually made it to the grave. 

However, while they were famous, others worked in the depth of night, digging next to the freshly interred bodies, slipped the bodies out of a tunnel beside the grave and made their way to the anatomy dept at the University of Edinburgh (or Glasgow or Aberdeen). This became such a lucrative job that folk were feared for the safety and souls of their loved ones. 

Some kirkyards, like St Cuthberts or New Calton in Edinburgh installed watch towers where guards would keep watch at night. 

Other families paid handsomely for mortsafes to put over the graves. 

Poorer families would sit vigil at the graveside for three or four days, until the bodies were no longer useful to the anatomists. 

What signs have you encountered that are evidence of this dastardly time in Scottish history?

A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Govan Old Church

Yesterday we looked at ancient burials. Interestingly evidence of ancient burials is prolific in Scotland. One of my very favourite places to visit is Govan Old Church. Inside are a number of  early medieval stones, five hogback stones and a sarcophogus. 

Like many historic treasures in Scotland, these stones were lost to time and lay beneath the soil. Then in 1855, when the Sexton began digging a grave in the north east part of the kirkyard, he struck what he thought were tree roots, only to discover on closer inspection that he had come across a sarcophagus buried in the kirkyard. It is not know when the sarcophagus was buried but there is some thought that it may have been buried during the reformation to preserve it from iconoclasts. Given the ornamentation on the outside of the sarcophagus, it is felt that it was meant to have been placed within the church as a focal point. Although the sarcophagus was empty when uncovered, it is believed that it once held the remains of St Constantine and likely dates from the late 800s. 

Once the sarcophagus was uncovered, excavation on the rest of the kirkyard uncovered 47 early medieval stones, including the 5 hogback stones and the sarcophagus. The hogback stones, the sarcophagus and twenty five of the best preserved stones are on display inside the church, which now functions as a museum. There are still 16 stones within the kirkyard. 

These magnificent stones stem from a unique period in history when the Kingdom of Strathclyde stood where Govan now stands. The evidence in these stones show that this was a large community from at least the 9th century, likely even earlier.

The jewels of the stones uncovered are what are known as the hogback stones, seeming to resemble the back of a hog. However, they also strongly resemble an upturned Viking boat and Vikings are known to have lived in and around Strathclyde in the 9th and 10th centuries. 

The sheer volume of stones uncovered shows the importance and expanse of this once thriving kingdom. The history that comes from these stones being uncovered shows that Strathclyde, or what is now Govan was one of the earliest Christian settlements and may well be as important in history as Iona or St Andrews. 

The stones are beautifully displayed and there are story boards which explain the things of note for the stones. 

Two to highlight are the Sun Stone and the Cuddy Stane: 

The Sun stone has 4 snakes which emerge from a boss and the placement of them resembles the sun. 

The Cuddy stane carvings seem to show Jesus being carried into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

To learn more about the work being done at Govan Old Church, visit their website: http://thegovanstones.org.uk/

A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Ancient Burials

One of the things that absolutely fascinates me about Scotland is the age of it. And the remnants of past history that remain to this day. Often relatively untouched, even if it has deteriorated a bit. 

One such remnant is the Clava Cairns in Inverness. The cairns lie approximately a mile from Culloden Battlefield. They lie in a field, down a country road, past open fields. And given that they are about 4500 years old, they are in remarkable shape. Of course, there has been a lot more footfall since the Outlander series was filmed here, but all in all, the cairns are well preserved. 

One of the passage cairns at Clava

There are three large rings, across a diagonal. The two outer cairns are passage cairns, meaning they have a short entryway (passage) into the centre of the cairn. These passages face southwest to meet the midwinter sun as it sets. The sun lights up the passage into the cairn. It is likely that only one person was buried within each cairn and given the size of the cairns, these persons may have had important status within their community. The centre ring has no passage or entryway and it is believed that this may actually have been used as a funeral pyre to burn bodies that could later be buried as ashes. 

The centre ring was possibly used as a funeral pyre

Around the whole of the three cairns stand remnants of a stone circle.

Remnants of the stone cirlce 

Newer graves have been added such as the smaller kerb cairn, which may, in fact, have been used to bury either a body in a cist or the urn holding the ashes of one or more bodies. These cist or cremation burials were often in shallow graves and covered with a light mound of dirt. The stones around the outer rim of the burial place mark the ground where remains are buried. 

The "newer" kerb cairn

An example of a burial cist

Ancient burial cairns are abundant in the northern isles as well. Again, these date from neolithic times. Places like the famed Maeshowe, the smaller Unstan Cairn, or the incredibly diverse Tomb of the Eagles. These three are chambered cairns. Each cairn has a number of chambers (pockets or shelves) where bodies were buried, so each cairn would hold several bodies. Each chamber may have held one person or a small group - husband and wife perhaps, or mother and child. Again, the passageway or entry to the cairn tends to face the midwinter sun. 

Inside the Tomb of the Eagles. You can see the chambers on the right and left of the photo, built into the walls of the cairn. 

Fascinatingly, at Tomb of the Eagles, there were three chambers. One held bones of women. One held bones of men and the third held the bones and talons of eagles. It is unclear what the significance of the eagles were to the people buried in the other chambers. 

What about you? Have you encountered any ancient burial sites in your travels?