Empty graves

I'm on my way to Dunfermline, the ancient capital of Scotland, to give a lecture at the Annual Conference of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies. I have been asked to talk about a favourite, if unusual, interest of mine, the history of grave-robbing by anatomists in the early 1800s. I guess that one message I will need to put over is that the old graves visited by family history researchers are quite likely to be empty!

To get myself into an appropriately sombre mood I called in at the parish church graveyard in Marykirk. Lying in the middle of the graveyard, this is the family burial vault of the Barclays of Johnston and Balmakewan. Originally it would have been attached to the wall of the ancient Aberluthnott Church which was demolished in the 1800s.

The graveyard is interesting in that it is surrounded by a round wall, an ancient Scottish tradition designed to deny the devil of any corner in which to hide.