Is AnyBody There?

Had to go through Colinton today and, being stuck for a blip, remembered the Mortsafe which stands near the door to Colinton Parish Church.

Weighing about 1 tonne, the iron mortsafe was made around the 1820's to protect against bodysnatchers (or Resurrectionists) who would remove newly-buried bodies to sell to the Medical School. Until the Anatomy Act of 1832, medical students could study only the bodies of executed murderers (this being regarded as the ultimate punishment). A body was not released from the mortsafe until it had decomposed too far to be of use for dissection and could safely be buried.