Tongland Parish Church

Today's the day …………………………..  to pay respects

This is a corner of the graveyard of the Parish Church in Tongland, near Kirkcudbright.  There's no functioning church there now, of course.  The Parish Church that was built in 1813 no longer has a roof and is fast becoming little more than a ruin.  

It was originally built to replace the older 17th century one that is shown above.  Very little of that survives as you can see, but interestingly, that rounded archway  in the north wall is thought to perhaps be a 13th century remnant of Tongland Abbey which was re-used.  As to the Abbey, nothing of it remains above ground now.  It was founded around 1218 by Alan, Lord of Galloway and Canons of the Premonstratensian Order (the White Canons) lived, worked and worshipped here for over 300 years until the abbey closed around 1560.
  
That big, white obelisk with the urn on top on the right, marks the family grave of John Mitchell, the man who back in 1842, built the house we now live in.  Because Will has done quite a bit of family history on our house - in some funny way, I feel as if they are my family too.  So whenever I take a walk up that way, I always drop in and pay my respects ..............................?!